THE company behind a major regeneration scheme wants to build a new roundabout to access it.

Integra 61 (Durham) Ltd has put forward a planning application to build the roundabout on the A688 at Tursdale, near Bowburn.

The three-arm roundabout would provide an access point to the planned £166m Integra 61 development, which will include 170,000sq m of industrial space, a 70-bed hotel, 60-bed care home, solar farm, shops, a restaurant, pub, nursery, GP surgery, car showroom and up to 270 houses.

The roundabout is aimed at providing a secondary HGV access route to the southern part of the 200-acre site, which is next to junction 61 on the A1, on the land between the A688 and the former Leamside railway.

Planners say staff arriving in their own cars would enter and exit the site via the main entrance, from a roundabout on the A688 immediately to the south of the existing entrance to Durham services.

The majority of delivery and service vehicles would arrive at the site from the secondary roundabout, reducing the number of HGVs turning right at the main entrance.

A statement by Lichfields, on behalf of the applicants, said: “The A688 in its current form has a recognised problem with speeding vehicles and the provision of both the main access and the secondary delivery access is considered likely to have a beneficial impact due to a traffic calming effect. It is expected that there will be an overall reduction in vehicle speeds along the A688 with a corresponding reduction in road traffic accidents as a result.”