Judicial review over retail park

Plans for Dalton Park were unveiled more than four years ago

A council is to face the High Court, following a decision to allow a retail park to expand before it had even opened.

The £50m development at Dalton Park, near Murton in County Durham, was opened in April by Tara Palmer-Tomkinson.

Business has been booming at the site ever since, with shoppers flocking to a range of cut-price designer stores.

The centre is set in 55 acres of reclaimed pit heaps, with 75 shops, cafes and restaurants, a children's play area and a crèche.

Top names, including designer Joseph, Starbucks and The Officers Club have signed up as tenants to the site.

But although Dalton Park was originally to have covered 100,000 sq ft, two separate planning decisions made by Easington District Council will now allow it to reach 120,000 sq ft.

Application upheld

The move has angered three companies which own other shopping centres in north-east England.

The Prudential, which owns The Galleries at Washington, Tyne and Wear; the Peterlee Partnership, which owns Peterlee Shopping Centre; and the Realm group, which owns the Royal Quays at North Shields, began a joint legal action against expansion plan.

Now their application for a judicial review of Easington District Council's planning decisions has been upheld.

The case will go before the High Court later this year.

Janet Johnson, the council's director of regeneration and development, said: "The District of Easington Council has acted in a proper manner throughout its planning procedures in relation to the Dalton Park development.

"This will obviously be tested in the judicial review and the council is confident of a positive outcome."