CONCERN has been expressed about a doctor's surgery included in development plans for a Darlington estate.

The development on the High Grange estate, in Faverdale, was approved by councillors yesterday.

But a neighbour to the site told Darlington Borough Council's planning committee she feared the building would be left empty.

The Northern Echo reported last month that developers Ingleby Barwick and Property Developments had not found a general practitioner interested in occupying it.

Marion Hughes, of Alverton Drive, which runs alongside the development site, said: "Will the building go ahead without the doctor? We are concerned that the building will be built and will not have a use for three, four or five years."

The developers said the building would be put to other uses until a doctor could be found, possibly as a shop or a dental surgery.

Malcolm Cundick, on behalf of the developers, told the committee: "We are actively pursuing a doctor's surgery at the minute.

"We have got some interest, although it is not fully confirmed."

The surgery is part of a development which includes 14 apartments and two shops, in two blocks forming a horseshoe shape on land opposite Alverton Drive.

A previous application for the site had included a pub, but there has been no interest shown by breweries in occupying the site.

Councillor John Williams, leader of Darlington council, said the building should be built in the hope of being filled by a GP, because the opportunity for a doctor on the site should not be missed.