A MYSTERY bidder for the Torrington factory site in Darlington is a retail developer which would be unlikely to get planning permission, The Northern Echo can reveal today.

Darlington College of Technology has identified the Yarm Road site as its preferred choice for a £27m learning park planned to open in August 2005.

However, Torrington, which employs about 100 people in Darlington and has battled admirably for survival, says it is considering another attractive offer for the site and that the college has yet to make a formal bid.

The Northern Echo has learnt that the alternative offer is from a retail developer.

But a spokesman for Darlington Borough Council said: "An application for a retailer out of town would not be looked on favourably because of the likely effect on out-of-town shopping.

"Council planners have to follow stringent Government guidelines which do not encourage retailers in out-of-town centres.

"In the unlikely situation that the council decided to go ahead and grant permission against the guidelines, it is more than likely that the application would be called in by the office of the Deputy Prime Minister to examine."

The likelihood that a supermarket or other shop would not be able to take over the Torrington site would clear the way for the college to negotiate the purchase of the land.

A planning application has been submitted by the college to leave its Cleveland Avenue site and move to a complex on the outskirts of town.

However, some people living in the Yarm Road area of Darlington have expressed concern at the increase in traffic the move would create.

One resident said: "I am sure the next thing they will suggest is turning the road into a dual carriageway, which will mean we are living on a major road."