PLANS to transform Darlington into the gateway to the North-East have been revealed.

Darlington Borough Council has announced what it would like to see in the town as part of The Gateway Project to make it a major conference and travel centre.

The council is working with the Tees Valley Partnership to develop regeneration ideas.

The plans centre on preparing sites in and around the town to attract businesses which would not usually come to the Tees Valley.

One of the main areas in the plan is a 75-acre site off Haughton Road which already has established road and rail links.

The site is owned by various bodies, including Railtrack, Darlington Borough Council and Northern Electric.

The council has earmarked this site for office, residential and hotel use and could help to make Darlington into a conference centre. It is expected it will take between three and five years to prepare the site for development and a bid for funding has already been made to regional development agency One NorthEast.

Faverdale is also named in the plan with hopes to extend its industrial site, as well as introducing shops and leis-ure services to the area.

Work is already under way to get permission to extend the site into greenfield areas.

The final main area in the council plan is the Great Park to the east of Darlington.

The 129-acre greenfield site is mostly owned by Durham Cathedral, with Lingfield Properties and property consultants Marchday also owning parts of it. It is anticipated that this area will be used as a new business park to be marketed when the town's Morton Palms site is full.

The council leader, Councillor John Williams, welcomed the plans.

He said: "The council has great ambitions for Darlington and Darlington's people and it is schemes like The Gateway Project that will turn that ambition into a reality in the years to come."

The council's cabinet will meet next week and is recommended to authorise officers to prepare bids to help fund the three major schemes set out in the project.