PLANS are underway to create 400 jobs which are badly needed in a rural area to replace those being axed at a big drugs factory.

The efforts are being greatly assisted by £750,000 donated to an enterprise fund by GlaxoSmithKline to compensate for reducing its workforce in Barnard Castle, Co Durham.

New work has been set up for about 150 people in the area in the past 12 months, and scores more places are in the employment pipeline.

Mr Shaun Stuart, chief executive of the Teesdale Enterprise Agency which is handling the campaign, said yesterday, "The results so far have been absolutely phenomenal.

"The fund has helped us launch 52 small businesses which between them have provided work for 75 men and women. And established firms have been helped to take on another 75.

"We are now right on course to have at least 400 new jobs established in Teesdale over the next couple of years to make up for all those cut back at the factory."

GlaxoSmithKline opened its factory in the town over 50 years ago. It employed over 1,500 people but said over a year ago that it was dispensing with 400 jobs as part of a gradual rationalisation programme.

The fund is able to offer up to £5,000 for each job created, and this has proved a definite incentive for newcomers and established firms. But they have to prove that the jobs are genuine and lasting rather than stopgaps.

Mr Stuart added, "This is an excellent example of a large company looking after an area in which it operates. The gesture is greatly appreciated."

The agency, which works with the Co Durham Development Company, is now advising a number of other people who hope to start their own firms, and expects a good number to be in business before the end of the year.

Sue Smith, a start-up advisor, shows new clients how to write business plans. Then they are invited onto training courses to ensure they have a real chance of success.

After that four experienced advisors are on hand to keep them on the right lines and show them how to cope with any problems that arise.

Mr Stuart added, "We are able to give a great deal of support, so all these new small companies have prospects not just of surviving but of growing steadily."