BUSINESS confidence in Darlington remains high and employee levels positive as the year draws to a close, despite a slight fall in turnover.

Tony Luckett, a partner at Clive Owen and Co business advisors, said the employee figure had been stable over the past year, with a rise for the past six months.

The latest business index showed that the town's traders had experienced mixed events over the past year.

Much of the year was dominated by news of the contract won by Cleveland Bridge to create the showpiece arch of London's new Wembley Stadium - and the disputes that followed.

More jobs for Darlington workers were put on the line with cuts at lycra-maker DuPont, the closure of the Calsonic Kansei factory at Shildon, planned redundancies at telecommunications company Orange and entry into administration for Presswork Metals, in Newton Aycliffe, and Lionweld Kennedy, on Teesside.

The most poignant closure was at the end of June as British American Tobacco's Rothmans factory ceased trading. Conversely, Darlington saw sporadic job creation during the year.

Fifty jobs were created by technology company Filtronic in Newton Aycliffe, southern-based Eton Environmental Services set up a division, Eton Analytical, at Lingfield Point and M&M Plasline created 35 jobs in its acquisition of Metek Building Supplies.

In a list of the North-East's top 200 companies, Darlington van hire specialist Northgate plc was the highest ranked newcomer, taking 22nd place.