WORK has started on a £3.5m restaurant and hotel development on the outskirts of Darlington, which will provide 60 jobs when it opens in December.

Whitbread Restaurants will be creating full and part-time jobs at the development, which will also include a 58-bedroom Travel Inn.

The proposals will also include landscaped gardens and a multi-level adventure play area at the Brewsters pub restaurant, in Morton Palms, next to the private Woodlands Hospital and close to the B&Q and Morrison's store complex.

The scheme was approved by members of Darlington Borough Council's planning committee in February, after they heard that the town was short of budget hotel accommodation.

In a report to councillors, the authority's tourism experts said that tourist information centre staff often struggled to find budget accommodation for visitors to the town, especially at weekdays during the main season.

There are 284 Travel Inns in the UK, and Whitbread Restaurants has plans to develop an extra 80 Brewsters by 2005, at a cost of £200m.

Whitbread's plans will include access to the site from the east and north. The hotel will be built two and three storeys high, while the pub-restaurant will be predominantly one-storey.

It is hoped the development will draw hundreds more visitors, especially families, to Morton Park to shop, and Whitbread has also earmarked an area to build a 128-space car park.

Dave Langley, business development manager for Whitbread Restaurants, which runs 140 Brewsters across the country, said Morton Park was an ideal location for the pub-restaurant and Travel Inn development.

He said: "The philosophy behind Brewsters is to provide real value for money and great family fun in a welcoming environment.

"The added attraction of the Fun Factory and Travel Inn means it will appeal to local residents, visitors to the area, business people and families.

"Indeed, it should appeal to anyone looking to enjoy a drink, a meal or an overnight break in superb surroundings."

The application site originally formed part of a larger area, which held planning permission for a mixed use development, including retail, employment, leisure and a range of associated uses