A LEADING figure in the economic regeneration of County Durham for almost 20 years is to head the county's key business development and jobs creation organisation.

Kingsley Smith, the retired chief executive of Durham, County Council, is to be chairman of County Durham Development Company, the council's international promotion and business development arm.

He will succeed Bernard Robinson, who is standing down after four years in office.

Mr Smith, 58, was behind CDDC's creation in 1987 and has been very closely involved in its activities and achievements through his roles with the county council.

CDDC spearheads the business development and tourism promotion of the county and administers the county council's financial incentives scheme, designed to encourage businesses to set-up and expand in County Durham.

It has helped more than 4,000 companies to set up or expand in the county, offered more than £19m in business grants and helped to create 46,000 jobs.

Mr Smith chaired the East Durham Task Force for ten years, following the closure of the county's last deep coal mines in the early 1990s, with the loss of 25,000 jobs. By the new century it had achieved its aim of creating 10,000 jobs.

The Government then asked him to chair the Fujitsu Task Force when that company closed its plant at Newton Aycliffe. Virtually all the 550 workforce found alternative employment and the plant was sold as a going concern.

Mr Smith was also one of the leading figures in bringing first class cricket to County Durham. For the last 20 years, he has specialised in Far East markets, and has developed a world-wide network of business contacts.

CDDC has also announced five new directors. They are: John Cuthbert, managing director of the Northumbrian Water Group; MetroCentre creator Sir John Hall; Sir Paul Nicholson, Lord Lieutenant of County Durham and former chairman of the Vaux Group; James Ramsbotham, vice-chairman of the Esh Group of construction-related companies, and Richard Tonks, founder of the Savers health and beauty chain.