A DEVELOPER has expressed disappointment that its rival is likely to get approval for a multi-million pound leisure complex in Darlington.

Tomorrow, councillors will be recommended to approve a plan by Terrace Hill for a complex including a multiplex cinema and multi-storey car park, opposite Feethams bus station.

The council's planning applications committee is also being urged to refuse permission for an identical development by Simons Estates on the bus station site. Simons Estates believe this is unfair, because it was given outline planning permission for the whole Feethams area a few years ago. The reason councillors are recommended to refuse permission is that developing the bus station site would leave an unsightly vacant piece of land.

But Simons Estates spokesman Jeremy Fieldsend said: "The council has always been consistent in asking for the comprehensive redevelopment of both sites. If the Terrace Hill scheme is given the go-ahead, it would look out on to a mucky old bus station which is just as unsightly. It makes no sense and we are disappointed."

There was a welcoming fanfare for Simons Estates when its leisure plan received outline approval in 1997.

But land belonging to Robinson's Carpets on the other side of the bus station was not part of the scheme, and rival Terrace Hill managed to snap it up.

When Terrace Hill revealed its plans last year, Simons was asked to follow through with a scheme on the bus station site to complement the new attractions, which will include an eight-screen cinema, a bingo club, restaurants and a 350-space car park.

But Mr Fieldsend said: "If a multiplex is built, we will have to look at the value of land which we control and make an appropriate decision. It may be that there will not then be sufficient value to redevelop the bus station site."

John Buxton, director of development and environment, said Simons Estates, was not prepared to buy the land opposite the bus station, unlike Terrace Hill.