THE £80m redevelopment of a former industrial site at Faverdale, Darlington, has been changed to move a new primary school on to a site previously earmarked for a rugby club.

The revised, but still outline, plans for the ambitious West Park scheme will be presented to Darlington planning applications committee on Wednesday.

Two years on, they show Mowden Rugby Club's proposed site has moved to open farmland outside the original scheme boundary to the north- west, attracting criticism from the Campaign to Protect Rural England.

The new site offers the club two extra full-sized pitches and two training pitches compared to its current Yiewsley Drive ground and two extra pitches in comparison to its first West Park allocation.

Planning officers say: "New sports pitches are always difficult to achieve and the additional provision contained within this proposal should be welcomed."

But the CPRE says the overall site is a vast one, which has already taken green fields outside the development limit. Room should have been kept within it for the club, which in turn should have made sure it had sufficient land before it accepted the offer of a move.

The new 315-pupil Alderman Leach School with a 26-place nursery is now planned on existing farmland immediately west of a surface water balancing pond.

Durham Constabulary says it is concerned the school will be next to a public house and there is a potential danger to having it near the pond - a view echoed by Archdeacon Newton Parish Council.

The scheme by developers Bussey and Armstrong includes a community village to serve around 700 new homes, a nursing home, doctor's surgery, three shop units, a community hall, chemist, public house, convenience store and a range of affordable flats over the shops.

There would also be an overflow parking area.

The planning committee will also consider an application to demolish the present Alderman Leach Junior School at Leach Grove and use it for around 75 new homes.

Two objectors living nearby fear asbestos from the old school will be released into the air, the noise during demolition and construction would be disruptive, and claim property values would drop as existing homes in Stooperdale Avenue are overshadowed by the new development