WORK still has not restarted on a multi-million pound hotel, close to one of the region's airports, months after a minor hitch brought construction to a halt.

Planning permission was granted for the hotel at Teesside Airport in the late 1990s, but a series of problems have meant construction has barely started.

The four-star hotel was meant to be built on the former Topspin Tennis Centre, and initial work did start at the site in December 1998.

The Mirage Hotel and Leisure Group, which is behind the hotel, said planning wrangles and sewage problems delayed the building, but this has been denied by Darlington Borough Council.

A council spokesman said: "We granted planning permission in the late 1990s, which included a number of conditions which were dealt with to our satisfaction. There is no reason, from a planning point of view, why the hotel hasn't been built."

The council spokesman went on to say that, because some work had been done on the site, planning permission could not expire.

Mirage's managing director, Jeannie Burnside, was not available yesterday to talk to The Northern Echo, about the delay.

In January, she said the building work had been delayed by a change of design and gaining planning permission for a drainage system. But she also said she hoped contractors would soon be back on site.

Six months later, there has been no sign of major activity.

Councillor Doris Jones, whose Middleton St George ward includes the site, said: "We would like to see the hotel finished, particularly because it will bring jobs to the area. It is important to find out what is going on."

The hotel is not the only building project in the area to be delayed. Work on a £350m freight terminal has not started although it was given the go-ahead two years ago.