ARCHAEOLOGISTS have started digging on the site of a proposed £7m leisure development in Darlington.

The two-day dig in the Feethams area of the town is aimed at finding any items of historical interest before building work starts.

Outline planning permission for a multiplex cinema, a bingo club, a restaurant and multi-storey car park has already been granted for the site, opposite the town's bus station.

Darlington Borough Council spokesman Steve Jones said the archaeologists were digging trial pits on the land, which was cleared for redevelopment earlier this year.

The archaeologists are based at Durham County Council's arts, libraries and museums department.

Mr Jones said: "Before the area is developed they want to have a look to see if there is anything underneath.

"Parts of the town centre date back to Medieval times, and historical records show that there may be items of interest in the area."

Darlington historian George Flynn said that Feethams had only been developed as a major thoroughfare in the late 19th Century.

He said: "You can never tell what you actually might find when you do an archaeological dig.

"But if a leisure complex is being built on there, it will be some considerable time before you get to do another dig.

"I would expect that if you are digging in that area the nearer you get to Houndgate the more you will find, because there were houses on there from early times."

A detailed planning application for the multi-million pound Feethams development is expected to be lodged with the borough council early in the new year, say council officials.

It is being built by developer Terrace Hill, which is currently talking to a number of leisure companies which have expressed an interest in the site.

The leisure scheme is a key part of Darlington Borough Council's ten-year plan for the town centre, which aims to secure its long-term economic future