PLANS were unveiled yesterday for an airport business park that could create 3,500 jobs and massively boost the region's economy.

The £110m Skylink International Business Park will be built on 250 acres of brownfield land to the south of the runway at Durham Tees Valley Airport.

The park, which is predicted to create about 2,000 jobs, will offer more than two million square feet of space to airport-related businesses and companies in the freight sector.

If it proves a success, provision has been made for a second phase - which could create another 1,500 jobs - on a site close to the business park.

Last night, the organisations behind the project - which include airport owner Peel Holdings and Tees Valley Regeneration - said they had yet to find an anchor tenant for the Skylink site, and that it was being built "speculatively" in a bid to attract tenants. But they said they were confident the park's close proximity to the airport would provide a unique selling point.

The park will replace the long-heralded Southside project which, having originally been based around a cargo terminal, never got off the ground, despite having been given outline planning permission in 1999.

Infrastructure work is due to start on the Skylink site this summer and will be completed next year, after which it is hoped factory, warehouses and other businesses can move in.

The first phase of the project is expected to take between five and ten years and will involve the construction of a one-and-three-quarter-mile access road to the nearby A67, along with 470 parking spaces.

Airport managing director Hugh Lang said: "Ensuring that we maximise the potential of our entire site is absolutely vital if we are to drive forward the development of the airport as a key element in the regeneration of the Tees Valley and wider North-East."

Mr Lang said that when he joined the airport, in 2001, it had been lacking significant investment, and hailed a decision by the five local authorities that owned the airport - Darlington, Stockton, Middlesbrough, Redcar and east Cleveland, and Hartlepool - to sell a majority stake in the business to Peel.

He said the airport also had planning permission for a hotel and a smaller business park on the north side of the site.

Mr Lang said: "There are significant sums of money being invested in this airport now, bringing in excess of £100m into the region."

He revealed that the Southside development was shelved because it was unrealistic and not financially viable.

Roger Wheeldon, senior development surveyor for Peel Holdings, said : "Skylink International Business Park will offer occupiers access to the world on their doorstep through the fast-growing Durham Tees Valley Airport as well as excellent road, rail and sea links.

"We expect it to be a huge success."

Mr Wheeldon admitted they did not have an anchor tenant in mind for the development.

But he said he was very confident that it would be a success and have an edge over other business parks in the region.

He said: "The fact that it is right next to a major airport gives it a unique selling point and something that is different to other business parks in the region. It is the company's intention that it will compete with anything else around."

Tees Valley Regeneration chief executive Joe Docherty cited a number of other projects in the area about to create jobs, including the expansion of Teesport and a £250m bioethanol plant at Wilton, Teesside.

He said: "This is another significant investment in the area which tells the story that Tees Valley is on the turn."

John Williams, the leader of Darlington Borough Council, said: "It demonstrates the ambition that there is here in Darlington and the confidence in the local economy."