ANGER has greeted news that an electronics company is to develop a new production plant in Poland just months after closing a North-East factory.

More than 760 workers lost their jobs when LG Philips closed its 34-year-old premises on Belmont Industrial Estate in Durham, in July.

It produced old style cathode ray tube TV sets, but the growing trend for flat-screen Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) models was behind the company's decision to close its Durham operation.

Philips was expected to look to the Far East to develop flat screen technology, but it has emerged the Korean/Dutch company is planning to build a plant in Poland, one of the recent new eastern European countries to join the EU, where average wages are much lower than in the UK.

The company is believed to be seeking to invest around £600m in the development in the southern city of Wroclaw.

Regional officials of the trade union Amicus, which represented much of the Philips workforce, accused the company of making a u-turn over its decision to develop in Europe.

Regional general secretary Davey Hall said: "When LG Philips announced the closure of the Durham operation, in April, they assured us and their workforce that the change in demand for new technologies meant they would be producing the flat screen TVs in Asia, rather than Europe.

"The news that they will be starting a new flat screen operation in Poland is a huge slap in the face for the newly redundant North-East workforce, who are struggling to find work."

Duke Koo, executive vice-president of worldwide sales at LG Philips said the Polish development plan is part of the company's strategy to lead the fast-growing European LCD TV market.