§ Mr. DevlinTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what discussions his Department has had with the Teesside development corporation about Preston farm, Stockton on Tees.
§ Mr. PortilloMy hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence Procurement announced today that the defence quality assurance laboratories will not be relocating to Preston farm. This leaves the way open for a series of new developments on the site. The Teesside development corporation will be announcing the first of these today, a £7 million investment by Livera Foods plc. The new factory is expected to create up to 700 new jobs. In addition, it is expected that a further 100 jobs will be created by the company's suppliers, and the construction contracts for the new factory will employ about 80 people.
The development corporation has received a number of other inquiries about the possibility of development on the Preston farm site and hopes to be in the position to make further announcements shortly.