PLANS were announced yesterday for a multi-million-pound investment at a business park which is expected to create up to 700 jobs and safeguard another 450.

Developers and businesses will invest £35m in the Wynyard One park, on the site of the former Samsung factory, at Wynyard, on Teesside.

The centrepiece of the plan is a £20m distribution centre that will create 500 jobs.

The investment will also see three companies moving to the site, as well as the construction of business units.

Yesterday's announcement came six months after the Samsung site closed with the loss of more than 400 jobs.

Site owners Wynyard Limited said work would begin on the developments as soon as planning approval had been obtained.

Chris Musgrave, managing director of Wynyard Limited, said: "This is a massive announcement for the site. It has taken a long time in the planning, but we were careful not to make any of this public before the whole thing was done and dusted.

"We are not just selling a dream here. These are businesses and developers who have committed themselves to this site for the long-term."

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 to move to Wynyard One.

These moves will help to ensure a total of 450 jobs stay in the region.

Plans have also been announced for the construction of business units that are expected to create another 180 jobs.

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

Samsung sold the 207-acre site to Mr Musgrave when it moved out of the region.

Mr Musgrave said: "The commitments we have secured will not only bring 1,000 jobs to the site, but will also result in major private sector investment with no requirement for public subsidies."