DEVELOPERS vying to secure a deal to create a £90m shopping complex are preparing to make their final pleas to council chiefs.

Four companies are in the running to build the Commercial Street complex, in Darlington, a scheme that has been touted as the town's most exciting retail development in a generation.

The contenders - Centros Miller, Discovery Properties, Lehman Brothers WD and Wilson Bowden Developments - have produced artists' drawings showing how they think the finished complex will look.

The proposals, published in The Northern Echo today, have been welcomed by civic and business leaders in the town.

The companies will spend the next three weeks in talks with local authority bosses in an effort to convince them of the merits of their plans.

A decision on which developer will be awarded the project will be made at a council cabinet meeting on April 12.

David Ward, planning director of Wilson Bowden, said: "We are very optimistic that we would be able to attract a department store and other retailers to try and ensure that the people of Darlington and the surrounding area stay in Darlington to shop."

David Lewis, associate director at Centros Miller, said: "Darlington is currently under-shopped. I think there is a huge demand from retailers to get into town and a huge opportunity to bring retailers into the town."

Councillor David Lyonette, cabinet member for economic regeneration, said the scheme, combined with the planned £6.5m pedestrianisation of the town centre, represented exciting times, adding: "We now have to ensure that we select a development that is right for Darlington."

The centre would include a major department store and the artists' drawings have increased speculation about which it may be, with some images clearly bearing the Debenhams name or logo.