A PLANNED showcase development has been given a vote of confidence.

Middlesbrough Council has renewed planning consent for the first phase of the £500m Middlehaven redevelopment at Middlesbrough.

Initial outline approval was given in 1999, but that five-year approval has now expired. The new consent specifies 766 homes, a 125-bedroom hotel, 37,200 square metres of office space, shops, restaurants, and leisure use - and the relocated Middlesbrough College and hall of residence, with 39 flats.

Joe Docherty, chief executive of Tees Valley Regeneration, said the scheme will put Middlesbrough on the same international footing, architecturally, as US city Boston, and Bilbao, in Spain.

Mayor Ray Mallon says Middlehaven is the bedrock on which the future of Middlesbrough will depend.