A SUPERMARKET chain has revealed plans to open a number of small food shops in the grounds of one its stores which recently closed down.

Morrisons closed its shop in Neasham Road, Darlington, in June and sold the lease to national cut-price superstore Matalan.

The closure upset some elderly and disabled local residents, who claimed they had no food shops in their area and would have to travel into the town centre and carry heavy shopping home.

But now Morrisons has applied for planning permission to build four shops on part of the car park of the old store.

Two of the shops, which would not be run by Morrisons, would sell food while the other two would be licensed to sell a variety of items.

A spokeswoman for Morrisons said: "We knew once our Neasham Road store closed there would be a demand for food shops in the area.

"Matalan took over the lease of our old shop but we still own it and the land next to the shop.

"We are hoping to develop part of the car park for two food shops and two other small shop units. None of these will be run by Morrisons but we hope small retailers will take them over.

"These shops should fill the gap left when we closed our Morrisons store to concentrate on our other shops in Darlington."

The supermarket's plans would not effect Matalan which opened in October, providing more than 100 jobs for the town.

As well as opening the small shops, Morrisons has also applied for planning permission for the former industrial site next to the old store.

This planning permission would be for either a residential development or a new care home on the site.

It is believed if planning permission was granted, the land would be sold to a developer to build the properties.

The spokeswoman said: "In total we think there will be about 60 full and part-time jobs created from the two developments if they are given the go ahead."

Darlington Borough Council will consider both application for planning permission at a meeting in the New Year.