THE Princess Royal flew into County Durham yesterday to officially open a pharmaceuticals plant.

Princess Anne landed at the tiny Shotton Colliery airfield, to open the nearby SSL factory on the Whitehouse Business Park.

The development, which has already created 220 jobs, will eventually employ about 300.

The princess toured the 180,000sq ft factory, which manufactures a wide range of over-the-counter medicines, such as Meltus cough syrup, pain killers Cuprofen and Syndol and Scholl foot powders.

She was also among the first to see the new production line installed for the Hibi range of surgical antiseptics.

The SSL plant in Peterlee was the only County Durham stop on Princess Anne's visit to the North-East and Scotland.

The princess was welcomed to the 19-acre plant by a host of civic dignitaries, including the High Sheriff Andrew Martell, Durham County Council chairman councillor Charles Magee, Easington District Council chairman, Councillor Audrey Young and SSL International chief executive Brian Buchan.

After a tour of the site, in which the she saw the manufacturing and packing facilities, the princess unveiled a plaque commemorating her visit.

Mr Buchan said: "We have been delighted that The Princess Royal was able to include us in a packed itinerary.

"Her visit means a great deal to the company and provides a most memorable occasion for all our employees in Peterlee, whose hard work and dedication has brought our newest manufacturing site into production.

"Peterlee is a flagship development for us as a global healthcare company, enabling us to meet the highest standards of manufacturing practice."

Director of operations at Peterlee, Steve Coplin, said: "The presence of The Princess Royal has set the seal on a memorable few months gearing up a greenfield development for sophisticated pharmaceutical product manufacture."