MULTI-MILLION pound plans have been announced to upgrade facilities at a North-East leisure centre.

The proposed revamp of Darlington's Dolphin Centre will cost £3.4m.

The refurbishment will see the changing rooms and fitness studios transformed, an improvement to conference rooms, the creation of a sensory room, children's play area and crche, and the development of a ground floor caf bar.

The scheme will also see the town's registry office and marriage hall, in Gladstone Street, move to the centre.

Outline proposals are expected to go before the council in the coming months and, if approved, public consultations will be held before detailed plans are submitted.

Darlington's director of community services, Cliff Brown, said: "The Dolphin Centre is 22 years old and clearly the design is out of date and bits are wearing out behind the scenes.

"We have done a feasibility study and now want to bring it up to modern standards and make it fit for the next 20-plus years."

Following customer feedback, the local authority has worked with designers to develop the outline proposal, which will be submitted as part of the council's capital programme.

The Dolphin Centre attracts more than a million customers a year - a figure Mr Brown expects to increase once the facilities have been upgraded.

"The scheme will improve the facilities significantly for people across Darlington and beyond. This move has been on the council's agenda for a while and, hopefully, it will meet with their approval," he said.

If given the go-ahead, the work is expected to take two-and-a-half years to complete.

Councillor Lee Vasey, cabinet member for leisure, said: "This is an exciting project and I am looking forward to seeing the proposals for the programme."

The centre has had a chequered past. Within a year of the £23m centre opening in 1982, bricks fell from the parapet above the staircase and a detailed inspection revealed two unsafe chimneys and a crumbling climbing wall.

In the early 1990s, the council was involved in a lengthy High Court battle to decide who should pay for repairs.

The court held that wall and roof defects were not the authority's responsibility.