A DERELICT garage site could make way for terraced housing after a supermarket giant was three times refused permission to build a new store.

Tesco put up for sale the former Shell garage, in North Road, Darlington, last summer after it met council opposition to redevelop the land.

The site is under offer with a firm of architects being asked to draw up plans for a row of terraced homes.

Residents and councillors in the Harrowgate Hill area of the town now hope the saga, which first surfaced in 2005, could be quickly resolved.

Shell closed the store in February 2005. Tesco submitted its first application for an Express store on the site in July 2006.

Those plans were refused later the same year, before Tesco bought the land. Two more revised applications were also rejected by councillors in 2007.

After the garage was closed, it was regularly vandalised before it was boarded up.

Despite the problems and concerns it had become an eyesore, hundreds of local people objected to Tesco's plans because of threats to other shops in the area and traffic problems.

After Tesco's third application was rejected, the company instructed Sanderson Weatherall to sell the land. The estate agents have confirmed the site is under offer but no contracts have been signed.

Last week, leaflets were sent to residents to explain the plans and ask for their feedback.

Developers want to build 13 two-storey terraced homes in red brick facing North Road. They will be each two bedrooms. An additional parking area for nine cars will be built behind the homes.

Mark Burton, Darlington councillor for the ward, said: "I think everyone is in favour of the of it and I think it's an excellent idea.

"My thoughts are that it gets approved. It has been a blot on the landscape for a long time."

Residents feedback will help to shape the final plans, which could be submitted to Darlington Borough Council next month.

Concerns include too few parking spaces and a pedestrian walkway behind the homes.