DETAILED plans to create a new industrial estate are being drawn up following the completion of a land deal.

The move will plug a hole in the supply of land available for employment use in Northallerton after all local authority-owned land in the town was snapped up by prospective purchasers.

Now Hambleton District Council is to bring forward proposals for a 20-acre site at Darlington Road after lengthy negotiations over the sale resulted in success.

Head of economic development, Mick Jewitt, said the new estate would help meet the need for employment land in the town.

He said: "Negotiations have been going on for some time but now the council has acquired the site and we are looking at the programme for developing it.

"We are seeking views on the timescale for bringing forward detailed designs and the lay-out of the site, which will add to the supply of employment land in Northallerton.

"This is very good news for the town and we are very pleased to have been able to acquire this land."

The cost of the site, former farmland to the north of Earnshaws, has not been disclosed.

The decision to press ahead with the new industrial park comes as remaining plots on the existing Standard Way industrial estate have been fully committed.

Building contractor Moody Bros was given planning approval in April to develop offices and a warehouse on the site, and all other undeveloped plots have now been committed.

Mr Jewitt said: "We know there is a need for additional employment land in Northallerton and we hope this will help to meet that need.

"There is no council land currently available on the open market so this new site is a significant addition to the land supply."

He said it was too early to say when plots on the new site would be ready to go onto the market.

The authority last year agreed a £1m deal to extend Thirsk industrial park, where all the existing plots have already been sold.

And the council is also looking at options for providing additional employment land at Stokesley, where just 1.41 acres on the 22 acre industrial estate are still unsold.