Darlington football club hopes to open its new ground as a 25,000-seater stadium straight away.

The original plan was to open with just 10,000 seats, with a provision to expand to 25,000 at a later date.

But on Monday, Mr Frank Little, of contractors Stephen Hall Construction, confirmed the club's intention was to press ahead with the larger capacity.

He said: "We are aiming to open as a 25,000-seater. There are one or two conditions to satisfy first but we hope to be able to sort those out."

A spokesman for Darlington Borough Council confirmed planning permission had been granted for a 25,000 capacity stadium, but only if several stipulations were dealt with first.

He said: "The ground is restricted to 10,000 seats until these conditions are met. They include improvements to the A66, a park and ride system and various traffic management schemes.

"As far as we are aware, the club has appointed a consultant to look at implementing these measures. Once this is done they would then have to approach the council and the highways agency to see if they were happy with them."

The club has also submitted several amendments to its original planning application for the new stadium.

These include providing new access to the Neasham Road/A66 roundabout, revised car parking and service arrangements, relocating a balancing pond and an amended site boundary.

A separate amendment applies for permission to alter the design of the main stand.

Mr Little said: "There is a small piece of land that we have been unable to acquire so this means we can't use the original car park and have had to draw new plans for it.

"The alterations to the design of the main south stand are mainly the addition of two lifts and two escalators. These are improvements to the design of the building which will add to the comfort and convenience of the fans inside the stadium.