DEVELOPERS have just under a fortnight to bid for the contract to build a £1.2m community centre on a Darlington estate.

Firthmoor Community Partnership Board has set a deadline of Friday, March 14, for bids.

The contract will be awarded three days later and work will begin on the site, on land bordered by Burnside Road and Firthmoor Crescent, on March 24.

Neighbourhood manager Sally Forth told the annual meeting of the community partnership board on Friday: "This is exciting news."

Councillor Roderick Francis, interim board chairman, said the centre should be completed by Christmas.

"It will happen. The centre will be built by December," he said. "People are pleased about it because the idea was to raise the aspirations of the community and get the residents to take ownership of the centre."

The building will replace the current centre in Burnside Road and will offer a wide range of educational, health and leisure schemes.