A PLASTICS firm spawned from an ICI management buyout forms part of the region’s share in a £300m Government cash pot.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has this morning (Thursday, February 12) revealed the successful applicants in the sixth round of the Regional Growth Fund (RGF).

The companies include Victrex, which operates a factory at Seal Sands, near Billingham, and works with Boeing and Airbus.

Its plastic equipment is used in resins and coatings, and as substitutes for metal in gears.

Anti-depressant maker Bristol Laboratories Limited, in Peterlee, County Durham, is another to have secured Government backing, as has business services firm BE Group, in Seaham.

Procter and Gamble Technical Centres, operating in Newcastle, and Siro (UK) Limited, make up the regional list.

Ministers say nearly £3bn has now been invested into UK-wide companies through RGF, which was set up to use taxpayers’ money as a means of creating jobs in hard hit areas.

However, they have not revealed the individual amounts offered to companies in this funding round.

Mr Clegg said: “The RGF has allowed regional businesses to be more ambitious than ever before.

“Putting money in their hands helps them flourish.”

Previous RGF winners include sheet metal and tube bending firm Hydram Engineering, in Chilton, near Ferryhill, County Durham, which said it would use the cash to create more than 60 jobs and buy machinery.

Precision engineer Darchem, in Stillington, near Darlington, also received £1m in an earlier round to help fund an £8m 75,000sq ft nuclear factory.

However, trailer maker Tinsley Special Products, previously pledged £3.5m RGF money, went into administration last year, with the loss of 90 jobs.

Formerly based in Eaglescliffe, near Stockton, it had plans to create almost 100 jobs as part of a five-year growth plan, including proposals to build a factory in Peterlee, but fell victim to falling trade.

At the time, the Government said Tinsley’s money would be re-used in future funding rounds.