THE future of Darlington's old bus station will be discussed at a meeting.

Arriva leases the depot, on Feethams, from Darlington Borough Council. The lease has 51 years to run.

But Arriva will leave the depot if its proposed takeover of Stagecoach's Darlington services takes place.

All Arriva buses would then be based at the Stagecoach depot in Faverdale.

On Thursday, The Northern Echo reported that the takeover is complete, subject to approval from the Office of Fair Trading.

A Darlington Borough Council spokeswoman said: "We will be meeting with Arriva to discuss the future of the depot in the next few weeks.

"Arriva still has 51 years left on its lease of the depot.

"The building will not automatically come back to the council if they move out."

Tony Batty, Arriva's area manager for Darlington, yesterday confirmed Arriva would leave the depot if the takeover goes ahead.

But he refused to speculate on the future of the building.

In June last year, Tesco paid Arriva £25,000 to prevent the bus company releasing its lease to anyone else.

The deal does not expire until June 2008.