WORK has begun on the £15m stadium that will help Darlington Football Club's push for the premiership.

Only days after construction firm Taylor Woodrow bowed out of the project, multi-millionaire chairman George Reynolds signed a deal with the County Durham family firm, Stephen Hall Construction.

The first phase of the scheme will include the re-routing of a main drain. This will be followed by the installation of pilings and foundations.

By May, the superstructure of the stadium will be complete.

The final stage of the scheme will be the fitting out of the stadium, which will include a complex of shops, conference suites, a creche, fitness rooms, bars, restaurants and teaching facilities.

Mr Reynolds said: "No expense will be spared to ensure the players and fans have facilities which are second to none."

He believes the ground will help spur the Quakers up through the divisions.

"You only have to look at Sunderland and Middlesbrough to see how their fortunes were transformed by the building of stadia,'' he said.

He said the scheme would usher in a new era of cheap ticket prices.

Seats in the main stand would be £12. In the opposite stand, there would be a charge of £10, and behind the goals there would be a charge of £5.

For season ticket holders, for for one year only, there would be a deal of two tickets for the price of one, he pledged.

Mr Reynolds said: "I like work to go to local firms. Stephen Hall has not only worked for me before, but was one of the contractors on the Stadium of Light.

"It started as a dream, but now it is coming true. I intend to charge the cheapest ticket prices in the country.''

www.thisisthenortheast.co.uk/sport/ football/darlington