PLANS to build a factory that could create up to 200 jobs were approved yesterday.

Able UK received permission to build the units at its Graythorp site in Hartlepool.

The factory would enable the manufacture of steel support legs for land and offshore wind turbines.

It remained unclear yesterday if Able UK would operate the site or if another company would come in.

A spokesman for Able UK, which has been in the news recently over an ongoing row about the dismantling of US "ghost ships" at Hartlepool, said: "We are happy to be able to move ahead with this and hope that it will be open in the first quarter of 2005."

The plans, approved by Hartlepool Borough Council yesterday morning, include offices, a canteen and a decontamination unit.

A proposal to install an oil or water tank and treatment plant were also submitted.

This would not be connected to the factory units but would store and process contaminated surface water from an oil rig dismantling pad.

No objections were received by the council. The factory units will be constructed in an industrial area flanked by a nuclear power station and the Huntsman Tioxide plant.

Able UK declined to reveal the cost of building the units.