THE multi-million pound expansion of a leading industrial estate could be back in business, after proposals for a £50m office development cleared a crucial planning hurdle yesterday.

Developers claim attempts to expand Belmont Industrial Estate, near Durham City, have been blocked in recent years by unviable road rules.

But Mandale Commercial yesterday won renewed permission to expand its Belmont Business Park, within the industrial estate, eightfold - and key players believe a deal over the road problem could be imminent.

Durham County Council planners hope the issue will be resolved 'soon' and Jeremy Good, a director of Darlington-based chartered town planners England and Lyle - which is acting for Mandale - said he would continue to work to reach a solution.

Mandale first won planning permission for phase two of Belmont Business Park, which includes 37,000sq metres of offices, 4,000sq metres of storage and 720 car parking spaces and could create up to 2,000 new jobs, in November 2008.

However, no building work took place, as the firm was first required to complete nearly £2m-worth of road improvements, including £1.2m-worth for the A1(M) junction 62 (Belmont/Carrville) and £700,000-worth for the A690 Belmont slip road, Broomside Lane roundabout and the industrial estate's traffic light-controlled entrance.

The Highways Agency, which controls the A1(M), has granted the firm permission to build 19,000sq metres of offices before starting the motorway improvements. The final decision over the local roads lies with Durham County Council.

Yesterday(TUES), the council's central and east Durham area planning committee, meeting at County Hall, Durham, unanimously granted Mandale three more years' planning permission to get the offices built.

Planning officer James Taylor said the expansion was a major development for the area.

Afterwards, Mr Good said: "We would like to thank Durham County Council for its unanimous support for the development of the site.

"We will continue working with the council to reach a solution over the local highways works."

The LG Philips factory, which made tubes for televisions, closed in 2005 with the loss of 750 jobs.

Phase one of Belmont Business Park, which is complete, includes 4,600sq metres of offices, a cafe and 220 parking spaces.