AN MP has accused an "unscrupulous" company of blocking the creation of 1,000 badly-needed jobs in the North-East - by holding up a key development.

Grahame Morris, the Easington MP, used a Commons debate to turn his fire on Praxis Holdings over delays to the second phase of Dalton Park complex in Murton, near Peterlee.

The Labour MP said "spurious challenges" had put the blocks on the expansion of the retail park that would deliver a cinema, hotel, pub and restaurant.

Mr Morris told MPs: "They have been made by a company called Praxis Holdings, despite the fact that the developments would be a major boost to the construction industry - and could deliver 1,000 much-needed jobs in East Durham."

But the company hit back immediately, insisting it had been "open and transparent in its opposition to the Dalton Park proposals from the outset".

A spokesman for Salford Estates - an offshoot of Praxis Holdings - added: "We are by no means the only objector.

"Aside from the council's own planning officers - who rejected the scheme - we are seeking to protect the long-term future of the town centre of Peterlee and the businesses whose livelihoods depend on its continued vitality and viability.

"It is the shopkeepers at Castle Dene who will be picking up the pieces of this ill-conceived plan for many years to come and long after Mr Morris has gone.

"In short, the Dalton Park proposals will destroy more jobs in Peterlee than it will ever create."

The row blew up over plans - put forward last year - that include a five-screen cinema, hotel, public house, foodstore, 1,394sq metres of food and drink units, a drive-through restaurant and a petrol filling station.

At the time, the development was tipped to add £13.5m to the local economy, helping to unlock the development potential of the whole area.

ING Real Estate Development, the owners of 55-acre Dalton Park- already home to about 70 shops - said the proposed food store will serve a different catchment area to those proposed in nearby Peterlee.

In the Commons, Mr Morris insisted the Dalton Park hold-up made a nonsense of the government's claim that planning 'red tape' was stifling badly-needed developments.

He said: "The reason for the delay is not that the local authority has held them up.

"Sadly, I did not see any action or intervention from the government to deter unscrupulous companies from delaying those developments.

"The planning permission has been extended because the project was delayed by the 2008 financial crisis, the loss of One North-East, the abolition of Film UK and the loss of funding for the County Durham development company."