IN August next year, flamboyant football club owner George Reynolds will watch proudly as his team take to the pitch in the £20m stadium he is building on the outskirts of Darlington.

He hopes it will herald a new era for Darlington FC, but for others it could be the beginning of a nightmare.

Mr Reynolds hopes that one day 25,000 people will fill the stadium to see the Quakers take on the likes of Liverpool or Manchester United in the Premiership.

He believes the football venue will bring the crowds flooding back and is pulling out all the stops to ensure the new stadium is the best.

This includes installing elevators to take supporters to their seats, creating a picnic area for families and even building a penthouse within the stadium for Mr Reynolds' use.

Despite this, people living near the Neasham Road stadium are still concerned about the impact it will have on their lives. The thought of having 25,000 people just yards from their homes fills them with dread.

The battle to prevent the stadium being built was fought and lost so the protestors can only sit and watch as the giant structure begins to fill the skyline in that part of town.

Jan Mazurk, of the Neasham Road Action Group, said: "Despite what many people think, we were never against the building of the new stadium, but the location.

"We are going to have supporters passing our homes and the traffic will be horrendous.

"You also have to consider people approaching from the lovely village of Hurworth, who will be met with this white monstrosity on the skyline."

Mr Reynolds insists that the stadium will be good for the town and that the protestors' concerns about traffic and nuisance will be allayed once it is completed and opened.

Work on the project is already weeks ahead of schedule, with the foundations laid and the four steel structures now up.

Hall Construction Services of Rushyford, near Sedgefield, is carrying out the work. It will be the first time the company has built a stadium.

Access to 1,700 car parking spaces and entrance through turnstiles will be gained by swipe-card, and before the games fans will be able to relax around a picnic area complete with two-acre lake.

There will be three restaurants, health club, computer study centre and of the 28 hospitality boxes which will be in the stadium, only seven are still available.

Mr Reynolds is also supremely confident that he will be able to put bums on the 25,000 seats..

"In modern football, a good team needs a modern stadium if the club is to have a chance of competing," he said.

"Crowds at Middlesbrough and Sunderland went up dramatically when they moved to new grounds and I know we will have no trouble filling the stadium.

"If the supporters want to see us in the Premiership they need to come through the turnstiles and I know they won't let us down."