A DARLINGTON councillor says the consultation process for the proposed Tesco development in the town centre has been a waste of money.

Liberal Democrat councillor Martin Swainston said that the public consultation process, which ended on Friday, was unnecessary.

The supermarket chain wants to transform a quarter of Darlington town centre by building a store and 130 apartments on the site of the town hall.

In return, it would build £14m offices for the borough council.

Coun Swainston made his comments after receiving a letter from the borough solicitor, which says a report, commissioned by the council with consultants Colliers, is likely to conclude there is limited capacity for food retail in the town centre.

Coun Swainston said this fact had already been established in a report commissioned by consultants Drivers Jonas in 2001. Coun Swainston had written to borough solicitor Catherine Whitehead with his concerns about the way the public consultation process was being run and whether it should continue.

In her reply, Ms Whitehead said: "I am advised that subsequent work has superseded the Drivers Jonas report and there is now limited capacity for additional food stores in Darlington.

The latest report from Colliers, which has yet to be finalised, but the conclusions of the report are known to the council, confirms that there is still limited capacity."

Coun Swainston said: "This confirms what everybody's known all along.

"The reports have confirmed that there is no additional retail space, so what has all this been about.

"The consultation should have asked what people genuinely wanted at the site, not whether or not they liked Tesco.

"This was a top-down consultation, we aren't given an option for what people would sooner have.

"This was a non-starter and how much is it all going to cost."

A borough council spokesman said: "We have made it clear during the consultation that national retail policy suggests there is limited capacity for more food shops in Darlington, but it should be remembered that Tesco is proposing that 50 per cent of its store is to be non-food.

"The proposal broadly fits in with our vision for the town centre, in that it would regenerate the Feethams area, and Tesco came to us with a financially viable development, so that is why we put it out to public consultation."