A FACTORY owner is investing almost £1m and creating 20 jobs in a small North-East community.

Ashley Renham, who had only one employee 18 years ago and now has 44 people on his payroll, aims to recruit at least 20 more at Middleton in Teesdale, near Barnard Castle, County Durham.

He has applied to Teesdale District Council for planning consent to build a 10,000sq ft extension to his premises and hopes to have it operating by the end of this year.

His firm, Renham and Wade, which makes plastic phials and other parts for the pharmaceutical industry, had a tiny unit at Stainton Grove before it moved to a rented a workshop in Gas Lane, Middleton in Teesdale, in 1987.

His partner Norman Wade left soon after that, but Mr Renham expanded steadily until he rented and then bought all nine units, measuring a total of 9,500sq ft, on the Kirkcarrion industrial estate.

He said yesterday: "We have so many orders coming in from major pharmaceutical companies, including GlaxoSmith-Kline, that we need much more space and more staff.

"When we moved here 18 years ago, I had no idea that we would eventually own the whole estate and still need even more space. But the business has done well right from the start."

He and joint managing director Kevin Maw wanted to knock down the estate, sell the site for housing and build a new factory elsewhere in Teesdale.

But planning officials vetoed that, as the land is designated for industry and not housing.

Mr Renham said: "We would rather have had a brand new factory on a different site, but will have to make do with the extension."

Trevor Watson, head of planning for the council, said: "We still have to look at details of this application, but in general a scheme which adds to employment prospects in the area has to be welcomed.

"This site has been approved only for projects which provide jobs, so we could not have approved of a proposal to use it for housing."

Mr Renham says that after his years of hard work he is now content to take more of a back seat and let Mr Maw take over the reins.

The factory extension will cost £350,000, and another £550,000 is to be invested in machinery for it and the present buildings.

Mr Maw said: "We are delighted with this latest expansion. Manufacturing is not without its difficulties at the moment, but we seem to have been doing the right things."