Durham planners have approved application from the British Garden Centres group that will see the development of East Durham Garden Centre.

Company secretary Phillippa Stubbs said: “I am pleased that our application was approved with a full show of hands.

“This will mean that we will be increasing the covered area of retail to some 17,000 sq m with 6,000 of this being open skies plant area and 1,200 providing a restaurant with orangery and anticipated Play Barn and outdoor childrens adventure playground.

“The timeframe we anticipate is to be open for Autumn 2018 or at the latest Spring 2019.

“We will be looking to start works in the next 12 weeks by clearing the site.”

“We shall continue to trade from the existing garden centre whilst the developments are carried out.”