FINAL plans have been submitted for a £200m chemical plant on Teesside.
US group Huntsman is asking Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council for planning permission to build the world's largest polyethylene plant at Wilton. The factory is expected to create 117 jobs and safeguard nearly 750 more.
The company confirmed this week that it had yet to agree a deal over the land it needs for the site, at the north-east end of the Wilton complex.
A spokesman said: "We are still in advanced negotiations to purchase the land at Wilton. We have lodged a planning application, which is still to be approved by Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council."
The council has promised to carry out a full environmental impact survey and it could be several months before members vote on the proposal.
But Huntsman chief executive Peter Huntsman is optimistic and has already ordered £50m of equipment for the new site. The polyethylene plant will produce 400,000 tonnes a year of low density polyethylene, which is used in packaging.
It will turn the UK from a net importer to an exporter of the product.
The plant will cost £180m, with a further £20m covering logistics and infrastructure. It has been supported by a £16.5m Government grant. Huntsman said last September that it expected the plant to be operating by autumn 2007.
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