MORE than 3,500 jobs could be created at a Darlington business park and former cigarette factory, The Northern Echo can reveal.

That number could eventually reach 5,000 workers at Darlington's Lingfield Point, and on the former British American Tobacco (BAT) site, developers have predicted.

A plan is being drawn up for the Lingfield Point site, which currently provides office space for 1,400 people.

Marchday, the developer behind the transformation of the 1940s Paton and Baldwins wool factory into a modern office development, will put together the blueprint for the site before the end of the year.

Future uses could include leisure, such as a hotel, and possibly homes and more offices, The Northern Echo has learned.

Marchday has also taken control of the neighbouring BAT factory, which closed last year with the loss of 500 jobs.

Its plan will incorporate long-term plans for the future of the former tobacco plant.

Patons employed more than 4,500 people in Darlington in its heyday, and Marchday director John Orchard said he could see numbers at Lingfield Point growing beyond that.

He told The Northern Echo: "I think with the density of modern workplaces it would be easy to see that figure exceeded on the site.

"We could easily see more than 4,500 people here."

He added: "People know that British American Tobacco has left Darlington, but they don't know so much that we have taken over control of the site, and are looking at a really exciting future for it.

"In the meantime, we are looking for short-term lets on the site while we produce the more exciting masterplan for the whole of Lingfield Point.

"We are at the point of appointing a strategic masterplanner, which will be a nationally-recognised company, and we will be working closely with the borough council to develop exactly what is right for the site."

Lingfield House, at the centre of the development, has already been converted into modern offices, and the former Beehive Ballroom provides studio offices for growing businesses.

The next phase of the site, known as Memphis, is expected to create 1,000 jobs when complete.

Marchday is developing the site slowly so as not to over-saturate the market, and to keep in line with businesses' needs. But Mr Orchard said: "It is very, very early stages, but we could have some homes and offices on the site in the long-term, and possibly something to do with leisure, perhaps a hotel."