An exciting future is on the cards for Aycliffe; Of all the New Towns in the North East, Newton Aycliffe has shown the most steadfast success in generating much needed jobs which it still does today says Geoff Hunton, of Merchant Place Developments.

FIGURES supplied by County Durham Development Company show that the Aycliffe Business Park is home to over 300 companies making it one of the largest employment areas in the region.

Major employers include ThyssenKrupp Tallent Chassis, the Ineos chemical plant, Husqvarna, DPE Automotive, Sabre Rail Services and 3M.

There are more but the point is that Newton Aycliffe has succeeded in creating a skilled workforce and it is this fact, added to a number of other very important factors, which makes this former new town a highly desirable location for business be it manufacturing or logistics and distribution.

Our development site, Amazon Park, is as yet grass, 104 acres of it, but current marketing is generating significant interest across manufacturing and retailing sectors.

As demonstrated by the new Lidl distribution warehouse, this clearly is a major distribution location.

What are the strong points about this part of southern County Durham? Infrastructure is uppermost in that Teesport is very accessible and of course it faces Europe for both export and import trade.

The A1(M) and the alternative A19 service the three regional conurbations and there is access north into Scotland and south to the M1/M62 corridor. Further, there is rail access linking Newton Aycliffe with the East Coast Mainline and other routes across the UK. In addition, access to the region's two international airports is less than an hour away.

A valid point concerns volumes of traffic and it is a fact that any congestion in the region is rush-hour specific in key pinch points but not