A MAJOR report into Darlington’s future development will be considered by councillors next week.

The Making and Growing Places document unveils Darlington Council’s vision for where housing, business and leisure developments should take place across the borough over the next 15 years.

A six-week consultation period will begin in June and residents are being urged to have their say on the plans which project that 5,800 new homes are needed in Darlington by 2026.

The council’s preferred areas of development include new housing sites at Central Park, the town centre fringe and Lingfield Point, as well as two large new neighbourhoods near West Park and Red Hall.

Plans to create more affordable homes, improve housing at Red Hall and expand existing gypsy sites are also included in the document.

Principal planning officer Valerie Adams explains: “We have looked at a number of options and come up with a preferred option about where new houses should go, where green fields should go and so on.

“The document being sent out to consultation will include a map to show people where things are going to happen.

“The idea is that people will be able to see whether land behind their house is going to be earmarked for development, and we need to know what those people think.”

Darlington Council’s cabinet is set to approve the Making and Growing Places report at its meeting on Tuesday and the public consultation period will then run from June 21 to August 2.

During that time there will be 13 events across the borough to give residents the chance to see the plans and discuss them with planning officers.

The documents will also be available online via the council’s website.

Steve Petch, Darlington Council’s head of strategy and commissioning, said: “This is an important document for the future of the town in terms of significant development and it will have an impact on people who live here, so we want their views on how we go forward.”

Ms Adams added: “We know we need new development, but there are things about Darlington that make people want to live here in the first place and we don’t want to put developments anywhere to take away from those reasons.”

Once the consultation period ends, the council’s planning department will continue to work on the document with the intention of it being implemented by the end of next year.

It will then be used to inform the council’s planning decisions until it is renewed in 2026.