COUNCIL planners have approved a £45m development expected to bring 1,000 jobs to the region.

Stockton Borough Council yesterday approved an application by the owners of the former Samsung site at Wynyard, Teesside, to relax existing planning laws for the site.

The ruling means any company can set up on the site, which only had consent for electronics firms.

Developers said it opened the door for firms to locate to the business park and would mean jobs for the area.

The move has been welcomed by business leaders and MPs. Samsung closed its plant at Wynyard last year with the loss of more than 400 jobs.

Known as Wynyard One, the development is a neighbour of the Wynyard Business Park, owned by North-East business leader and former Newcastle United chairman Sir John Hall.

Chris Musgrave, managing director of Wynyard Ltd, the company behind Wynyard One, said: "This planning application was always going to be our biggest hurdle and we are delighted that Stockton council members have given their approval and, in so doing, moved us one step nearer to creating the high quality business park we have been promising since we took over the site."

Frank Cook, MP for Stockton North, said: "A thousand-plus extra jobs has got to be good and is just the fillip we need to help us improve further the regeneration of the region.

Firms can now submit planning applications for the site. As part of the plans, specialist distribution company Helioslough has agreed terms to develop a 400,000sq ft distribution centre covering 38 acres.

Glamal Engineering Limited, of Billingham, will spend £5m moving to the former microwave ovens factory, while technology group Capgemini has committed itself to the park by extending its lease on its conferencing centre there by ten years.

Semta (Science, Engineering, Manufacturing and Technologies Alliance), the Government-backed agency for industrial and vocational training, has also agreed a move to Wynyard One.