A MULTI-MILLION pound project to transform Darlington town centre has suffered its first major setback - due to a century-old underground pipe.

Engineers working on the £6.5m Pedestrian Heart scheme have discovered that the gas main serving the west of Darlington is not buried as deeply as they thought.

This means that a major project to divert the pipe, installed in 1900, will have to be completed - and the work will take weeks.

Yesterday, Darlington Borough Council was unable to say how much the diversion would cost.

However, it is likely to delay completion of the whole Pedestrian Heart project.

The project is designed to make the town centre a safer and more pleasant environment for shoppers and visitors.

It has been controversial, and civic trust members have objected because Victorian features in High Row will be removed.

The gas main runs from the Northgate roundabout through to the Blackwellgate/Skinnergate area in the town centre.

It now needs to be diverted between Prospect Place and Horsemarket.

Work is still to be done to assess if the gas main will have any impact on Blackwellgate and Northgate.

Before work on the Pedestrian Heart got under way, engineers did radar tests which indicated that the pipe was 800mm below the surface - however, they have since discovered that, at its shallowest, it is only 460mm underground.

Yesterday, the borough council said it hoped work would start on the diversion as quickly as possible.

Work on areas of the Pedestrian Heart scheme that are not affected by the gas main will continue as normal.

The council is hoping to re-programme the schedule while the gas main is moved.

John Buxton, Darlington Council's director of development and environment, said: "We have no indication as yet what implications this will have for the cost of the scheme, although it is almost certainly going to impact on how long it will take to finish the Pedestrian Heart work.

"While work is carried out to divert this gas pipe, we will continue to do everything we can to keep disruption to a minimum."