A FACT-finding mission is helping lay the groundwork for a new community and church centre in Whinfield, which could be a reality within five years.

Over the next two weeks an options questionnaire is going out to all 2,500 homes on the estate and a professional feasibility study is also being launched. Both will be used to make a business case to back future applications for grants.

Darlington council has brought in an independent consultancy to find out how it can work with the residents to improve the quality of life in Whinfield. It wants to know if people want a community centre and what activities they think it should be used for.

Ward Coun Chris McEwan and Miss Eileen Shepherd, a church warden, are helping spearhead the Whinfield project.

Coun McEwan said: "The ward councillors pushed for a study to find out how the people felt about this and officers managed to secure some funding. The feasibility study is a separate project but the two dovetail together."

"There has been talk of a community centre for the past 20 years and, as is usually the case, some people took up the baton and then dropped it.

"I felt we needed a professional study to take it forward because these days you can't just ask for money. There has to be some evidence of need."

The combined church and community project will try to weld the two interests together and Coun McEwan said other interested parties might also come on board.

"We are at the start of a long journey, but this is an important step, he added.

Miss Shepherd is a warden of the Whinfield church, which is affiliated to St Andrew's at Haughton, but has to meet in the local school. She is also chairman of the residents' association which was successful in protecting its greenfield sites at Muscar and Elm Tree farms.

"We have a doctor's surgery, a newsagent's shop and a chemist. But there is no nursery, creche facilities or even a library - no focal point for the community," she said.

Land at the side of the Asda supermarket and in front of the junior school has been earmarked for building if the business case is successful.

Local organisations have helped pay for the feasibility study and Miss Shepherd said: "This is excellent news for Whinfield.

"It is a project that has been chewed over for years and in five years time we hope to have a building."