Darlington Football Club has been warned it could face legal action unless it meets all planning conditions in time for the opening of its stadium a week tomorrow.

Club director Ian Robinson said yesterday: "We are endeavouring to comply with every condition we need to, to get the stadium open."

But the club has not yet paid the Highways Agency to carry out roadworks on the A66, which was one of the planning conditions.

An agency spokesman confirmed the club had not signed a section 278 agreement, which involves the club paying it to carry out trunk road improvements.

John Buxton, Darlington Borough Council's director of development, said: "We are not going to seek an injunction to stop the stadium opening. But if things do not work out according to plan, we are keeping our options open."

A council spokesman, however, confirmed that chief executive Barry Keel had sent a letter to the club at the end of last month, warning it would be breaching planning conditions if it opened on August 16 without completing the works, and that enforcement action could take place.

The club has met the majority of the planning conditions but, with a week to go before the opening, some remain to be completed, including:

* A residents' parking permit scheme;

* A subsidised bus service, free from the town centre and railway station, and cut price from Stockton via Yarm and Middleton St George;

* Enlarging footpaths under the nearby railway bridge;

* A park-and-ride scheme.

A council spokesman said: "The works that the Highways Agency was due to carry out are not major.

"Technically, if the stadium opens without them being complete then the club will be in breach of planning conditions - and we could take legal action.

"We had a useful meeting with them earlier this week and they have given us assurances that they will give us the information we need to deal with several of the outstanding issues.

"They still may comply with some of the conditions. They are still over a week away from opening."

A Highways Agency spokesman said: "We have no doubt about this going ahead, but we would like it as soon as possible. As yet, we have no date for the start of our works. We would have liked things sorted out earlier."

Neasham Road residents are protesting after it was revealed they may have to wait more than two months for the implementation of the parking scheme.

The delay comes after the club and council failed to reach an agreement over how much the football club would pay for the £60,000 scheme.

Mr Buxton said: "We will invoice them and recover the money through the courts if we have to."

Mr Robinson said he believed the club should not have signed a "106 agreement" - a legally-binding planning agreement - in the first place.

"There are a lot of conditions in there that affect the commercial viability of a football club - such as subsidised coaches and dictating the prices we can charge for car parking."