A LEADING car parts manufacturer, badly hit when the recession struck the automotive industry, created 46 permanent jobs yesterday as conditions in the sector continue to improve.

Thyssen Krupp (TK) Tallent, the biggest employer in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, said it was offering permanent roles to 46 workers who had been on temporary contracts at the plant on Aycliffe Industrial Park.

The firm, employing about 950 staff, was forced to make 286 redundancies over a threemonth period in 2008 and cut shifts as demand for its products was hit.

In a good day for workers in industries badly hit in the recession, building firm Clugston Construction yesterday announced it was creating more than 80 jobs in the region.

Last night, David Land, TK engineering and operations director at the Newton Aycliffe site, said: “It’s pleasing to be able to reward our temporary employees with permanent contracts.

“The automotive sector has seen a steady recovery since the rapid decline back in 2008, we need to be able to meet that changing demand.

“We continue to require agency workers as well as look forward to being able to offer more people permanent employment as confidence in the market grows.”

Machine operators, welders and forklift truck drivers were among those taken on by TK, which manufactures chassis products for some of the world’s leading brands, including Ford, Volvo, Honda, VW, Nissan, Land Rover and Jaguar.

One of those offered a permanent position, Mike McKenna, said: “I am delighted that I am now in secure, full time, permanent employment.”

The new employees had initially been taken on through recruitment firm Temp Team.

Building firm Clugston Construction said it was creating more than 80 jobs after winning contracts worth £7m.

They include extensions to Redcar Fire Station and a nursing home in Middlesbrough, for Belle Vue Healthcare Limited, which will create more than 30 jobs in the Tees Valley.

An extension to the Egger UK manufacturing plant in Hexham, Northumberland, will create 50 jobs.

Clugston’s North East regional manager Steve Waggett said: “We are delighted to have been awarded these contracts and it reaffirms our growing reputation in the region.”

It also emerged yesterday that Harvest Energy, which took over the former Biofuels Corporation plant at Seal Sands earlier this year, has reinstated 16 of its 38 staff who lost their jobs when the plant ran into difficulties in November last year.

James Ramsbotham, chief executive of the North East Chamber of Commerce, said: “NECC has made it clear that the business community is up for the challenge of creating jobs and growing the economy and these North-East jobs announcements are a great illustration of that fact.

“We know there will be tough times ahead and we applaud any business that can bring jobs growth such as this.”