A PROMINENT businessman is threatening legal action against an anonymous blogger who questioned the financial viability of a major North-East business park.

Chris Musgrave, director of Wynyard Park Ltd, said suggestions that the 500-acre site near Billingham, was in trouble were completely untrue.

Accounts filed with Companies House for 2012/13 show the company which runs the park had debts of almost £30m, which included large loans from the Bank of Scotland.

This figure was more than £7m higher than the previous year.

The documents have been seized on by campaigners unhappy at the purchase of Manston Airport, in Kent, by Mr Musgrave and business partner Trevor Cartner as the pair have no plans to reopen the facility, which closed earlier this year.

A local blogger suggested that Companies House records showed that Wynyard Park had run into financial difficulties - and the pair should not build a new business park on the airport site.

But Mr Musgrave said the publicly available records failed to reveal that he had paid off Wynyard Park's debts in October last year after selling some assets and investing further money in the scheme.

He said: "Wynyard Park is the biggest success story Teesside has ever had.

"This site is in the best shape that it has ever been and it's debt free."

Mr Musgrave said it was usual for large developments like Wynyard Park to face debts and make losses in their early years - but he expected the company to start making a profit next year.

He added that 65 businesses were based on the site, with occupancy at 100 per cent.

"This a 25-year plan - a large community that I'm building here.

"There is absolutely no debt on the site with 500 acres of land with planning permission for residential and housing use."

North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust hopes to build a £300m hospital on the business park to open by 2017 and Mr Musgrave said there were no reasons why the scheme would not go ahead as planned.

The NHS trust’s director of finance, Lynne Hodgson, confirmed the trust had a land sale agreement with Wynyard Business Park Ltd which was still current.

Last month, work began at Wynyard Park to prepare land for a further housing development.

Tasks include building a new dual carriageway and installing a new sewerage system and pumping station.

Mr Musgrave said he was consulting his lawyers regarding the blog.