A HUGE industrial estate next to the route of a £12.5m bypass in Darlington could swamp the road with traffic, a councillor has warned.

Plans were unveiled last month for a business park on the outskirts of town with warehouses, offices, a hotel and thousands of parking spaces.

A 95-acre plot of farmland between the Lingfield industrial estate and the A66 has been earmarked for the project. The site was picked because it would link with the new Darlington eastern transport corridor road.

Work on the route started last month and is expected to finish in May next year.

But Brian Jones, the local ward councillor, has warned that the single track road may not be able to cope if the industrial estate is approved.

"There is going to be a tremendous amount of additional traffic and I'm concerned that the road won't be able to handle it," he told Darlington Borough Council's transport forum.

"The new road is designed to open up that area for development but the whole of it is single carriageway. There are plans for an industrial estate development which has thousands of parking spaces and three delivery warehouses. That's a lot of cars."

Councillor Jones warned that nearby villages such as Sadberge and Middleton St George could be badly hit by traffic if the estate is built.

The plans have been submitted by Leeds construction firm PPG Land Ltd and designed by architect GVA Grimley.

The estate, which would be built on farmland owned by Durham Cathedral, includes three large warehouses, a 60-bedroom hotel and restaurant, office blocks and more than 3,000 parking spaces.

Richard Alty, the council's assistant director of development and regeneration, said: "We have only recently received a planning application for the industrial estate so it's too early to say what will happen with that.

"The new road was designed with that kind of traffic in mind, and to cope with development of the land in that area. What I can say is that the Highways Agency went through the plans for the Darlington eastern transport corridor with a meticulously fine-tooth comb."

Millie Scaife, chairwoman of Sadberge Parish Council, said yesterday: "We have already got considerable traffic problems in the village and, if the new industrial estate is built, it would be a concern for us."

Councillors at Sadberge will discuss the plan at their next meeting on Tuesday, March 6.