SUPERMARKET giant Tesco has signalled it has given up any hopes of developing a store in Darlington town centre after putting the land it owns in the area up for sale.

The small patch of overgrown wasteland to the rear of the Dolphin Centre, on the corner of Feethams and Houndgate, has been marketed by agents Davison Blackett on behalf of the supermarket chain.

The land, which lies next to a Darlington Borough Council-owned car park, could be an attractive proposition to developers as the authority has publicly stated it would support development that would complement the new leisure development opposite.

The site was once part of an audacious plan by Tesco that would have seen Darlington town hall demolished and a large supermarket and apartment complex built in its place.

A large public campaign against the plans, submitted to Darlington Borough Council in 2006, led to them eventually being turned down by councillors.

The then leader of the council, John Williams, said he could not support the development of a supermarket on council-owned land.

Although the company opened an Express store within the town’s Cornmill Centre in 2008, it never made any further proposals to develop the Feethams land.

Now, almost eight years on, the Feethams area of town has once again become the focus of development with work underway on a new cinema and hotel complex and the Department for Education building almost complete.

Mark Thomas, a Tesco spokesman, said: “We only buy land with the intention of delivering developments and where we no longer intend to develop sites, we look to sell them or lease them for use for others.

“In Darlington we have put our site up for sale.”

Darlington Borough Council indicated its support for the sale of the land with a statement saying: “We are keen to see the site developed in a complementary way recognising the principles of the Feethams masterplan and believe the site lends itself to development featuring a leisure/office opportunity.

“The council owns the adjacent site and, as with any other private sector interest on Darlington sites, we would be very keen to discuss plans and work with any interested parties.”