DIY store will create 50 jobs

It is hoped that the 25,000sq ft development for Homebase will be trading by the end of next year.

The announcement comes after the company was given planning permission for a new DIY retail warehouse with ancillary garden centre by Wear Valley District Council's development control committee.

The new development, at the former Keen Replicas site on Watling Road, Tindale Crescent, will also feature two restaurants, landscaping and a total of 237 parking spaces.

Divisional general manager Paul Frewin said Homebase was looking forward to moving into Bishop Auckland.

He said: "We are delighted to be opening a new store in Bishop Auckland. It is part of Homebase's plan to open 15 new stores per year for the next three years."

The site where the store will be built forms part of an area in Tindale Crescent that has been earmarked for bulky goods retail use by the district council.

Work has already started on neighbouring land, near Jewsons, for a further two retail units.

Two large DIY retailers have been linked with the units but there has been no firm confirmation of who will occupy them.

The development marks the start of a mass DIY shake-up that will see B&Q move out of its Bob Hardisty Drive Premises in the town centre to the outskirts of Bishop Auckland.

Property company Terrace Hill North-East Ltd, of Stockton, is in talks with Wear Valley District Council to build a new B&Q superstore on the former Warner Electrics site, also in Tindale Crescent, along with a multi-screen cinema, and bingo hall and restaurants.

Terrace Hill has confirmed that it has earmarked 13.3 hectares of land in St Helens Way for the mass development.

Duncan McEwan, development executive at Terrace Hill, said "We are very optimistic that this could happen. I am very excited about it.

"We already have interest from an international cinema chain and a national bingo operator but there are still things that we need to discuss with the council."