THE owner of Newton Aycliffe town centre has broken its silence about the future of a multi-million pound development for the area.

Property company Daejan said it was committed to breathing life into the town centre, but wanted to ensure that the right scheme was chosen.

Blending the £25m development in with the present shopping centre owned by Daejan has proved the main stumbling block to the project.

Developer CTP has already started work on the first phase of the development at the former Avenue School site, which includes a Tesco supermarket and youth centre.

Phase two, which will include a library, health centre and drop-in centre for older people, includes work to integrate the development with the existing town centre.

Daejan, which owns the existing site, has filed an application for a judicial review of the planning permission granted by Sedgefield Borough Council.

A company spokesman said the move was a precaution to prevent inadequate and ill-defined development.

He said: "Daejan is fully committed to playing a part in the redevelopment of Newton Aycliffe shopping centre.

"Indeed we have been having positive discussions with the developer about phase two of the redevelopment, which is intended to fill the gap between Tesco and the existing town centre.

"Our main concern is that the planning consent and associated agreements, as they are currently framed, do not place sufficient obligation on CTP to construct phase two, and we see this second phase as crucial for the future success of Newton Aycliffe as an integrated town centre."

The spokesman said that the proposals did not meet Sedgefield Borough Council's stated aim of a new development which blended in with the town centre.

He said: "The existing proposals will not guarantee this integration, creating the risk of a partitioned shopping centre, which will not succeed in generating the anticipated level of demand from shoppers, to the detriment of local shops, existing shoppers and the town as a whole."

He said the company was hopeful agreement could be reached between the two companies to create an integrated town centre.