CHEMICAL company Huntsman has cleared the final hurdle for a £200m plant in Teesside. Huntsman received unanimous support from Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council's planning committee for a low density polyethylene plant at the Wilton International site in Redcar. There are 1,500 people directly employed by the company and hundreds more indirectly employed in supply and support. The plant will create 121 jobs on Teesside and safeguard thousands more.
job losses: A tablemat manufacturer in Consett, County Durham, is to shed between 40 and 50 jobs as it transfers production to the Far East. Alastair Ritchie, owner of Pimpernel International, said the company could no longer compete against lower wages in China, where mats can be made at a tenth of the cost. A spending slowdown had also hit the company hard, he said. Jobs will remain in the sales, design and warehouse departments, where another 50 staff work. The printing will also continue at the County Durham site, although Mr Ritchie, who bought the company out of administration six months ago, saving more than 100 jobs, said that could cease if difficult retail conditions continued.
rate slows: House prices are rising at their slowest rate for nearly ten years. According to the Nationwide Building Society, the average cost of a home rose by 2.3 per cent during the year to the end of August - the lowest rate since May 1996, and well down on the 18.9 per cent during the same month last year. Last month, prices fell by 0.2 per cent, wiping out modest gains seen in July and reducing the average value of a property in the UK to £157,310.
Takeover talks: DHL owner Deutsche Post has made an approach to buy the UK logistics group Exel in a deal that could be worth more than £3bn. Exel, which employs more than 100 people on Teesside, ended months of speculation when it revealed to the stock market that it was in the early stages of talks with Deutsche Post. Shares in Exel, which delivers products on behalf of numerous UK retailers, jumped 17 per cent - giving it a market value of more than £3bn
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article