Business Secretary Lord Mandelson visited the North-East yesterday and told of his hopes for the chemical industry and securing work on the new Nissan electric vehicle.

Deputy Business Editor Deborah Johnson reports.

Teesside’S chemical sector must embrace new greener technologies to ensure its long-term future, Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said on a visit to the region yesterday.

Repeated calls have been made for Lord Mandelson to intervene in the area’s troubled process industry – which has, in recent months, seen two site closures, two impending closures, and doubts over the future of a further two plants – but no Government assistance has been forthcoming.

The North-East Process Industry Cluster (Nepic) wrote to Lord Mandelson with a proposed plan of action to help safeguard the Teesside chemical sector – a £10bn industry that employs 34,000 people – and Frank Cook, MP for Stockton North, has repeatedly called on him to visit the area, but neither appeal has seen success.

Yesterday, Lord Mandelson, who officially opened green services company Eaga’s headquarters in Gosforth, Newcastle, while on his visit to the region, revealed he is meeting the Chemical Industries Association in two weeks’ time to discuss the issue further, but did not elaborate on any planned Government assistance for the sector.

Speaking to The Northern Echo, he said that while the Teesside chemical industry is a strong sector, the region needs to seize the opportunities offered through new green technologies.

He said: “There is a change being seen in the chemical sector, and this is the future.

No industry, no sector, can stand still.

“Chemicals remains a very important part of the UK economy, and anything the Government can do to bring about the necessary change in embracing these new technologies, which will protect futures and jobs, we will do.

“In my view, chemical production at Wilton is very strong and retains strong potential, and has a good future.

“But given the increasing competition from around the world, we have to move up the value chain and keep ahead of the curve in what we are doing.

“We must ensure we are supplying what the global markets need.”

Lord Mandelson also spoke about talks he held in Japan with Nissan executives over the possibility of its electric vehicle being built in the North-East, and said their decision was “heading in that direction”.

The Business Secretary said that while no decisions had been made over whether the Leaf model would be made at Sunderland, he admitted to being “encouraged”

by the meeting.

Speculation has been rife in recent months that the Japanese company would carry out European production of the Leaf, due to start in 2012, at its Sunderland site, which employs 4,000 people.

It follows Nissan’s announcement in July that its European Centre of Excellence for Battery Manufacturing for its electric vehicles, will be created alongside its plant in the North-East.

Earlier this week, Trevor Mann, Nissan’s senior vicepresident for manufacturing in Europe, said staff in the North-East are “as confident as we can be” that the region would be chosen, but stressed there was still a long way to go – a stance echoed by Lord Mandelson yesterday.

He said: “Recently, I was in Japan and I met senior executives from Nissan and I would say I was encouraged by their plans for the production of the Leaf.

“It is not a done deal – but we are heading in that direction.”