A £6M sports development that would have brought hundreds of jobs to the region has been scrapped, The Northern Echo can reveal.

A prime industrial site on the edge of Darlington had been chosen for a JJB Sports Soccerdome to provide first-class sporting, leisure and retail facilities and up to 400 jobs.

But High Point Estates has withdrawn its application to Darlington Borough Council for permission for the project to go ahead at the Cummins Engines factory site, on Yarm Road.

It is the second time an application for the scheme has been ditched over a dispute with planners, and the future of the site is now uncertain.

The first withdrawal came after council officials warned that the 60,000 sq ft retail element of the blueprint was too large and would lead to permission being refused.

But the second application last year was understood to be hardly any different to the original.

It detailed plans for one of the country's leading soccer centres of excellence, together with a TJ Hughes superstore, fast-food outlet and bar.

But the proposals went against Darlington's local plan, which earmarks the site for employment purposes but not retail.

As a result, the firm's interest in the scheme has now been abandoned after the differences could not be resolved.

A council spokeswoman said: "We had been asking for clarification of the retail element of the proposal. That information was not forthcoming and it has been withdrawn."

The authority had asked for a transport impact assessment, the effect on local and trunk roads and steps to promote public transport use in the area.

High Point, owner of the Cummins site, declined to comment.