WORK has begun on a creating a new £3m commercial centre in Hartlepool which it is hoped will directly create 50 new jobs.

The plan is to build light industrial units with a combined floor space of 2,000sq metres, about the size of ten large houses, at Queens Meadow Business Park to the south of the town centre.

Money for development has come from the Government's Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and Queens Meadow is one of eight key sites identified in the Hartlepool Vision, a Hartlepool Borough Council-backed blueprint to attract investment to the town.

The HCA development will provide new industrial space which will be available on flexible leasing terms. The Business Park is in an Enterprise Zone, so the tenants could get business rate relief if they are moving into or expanding in the area.

Marie Kiddell, area manager at the Homes and Communities Agency said: “This development has only been possible because the HCA has directly invested in Queens Meadow in order to quickly solve the acute shortage of light industrial units available in Hartlepool

“The HCA has only recently taken ownership of the whole of the site and we see the development as boost to our future plans for the area.”

The scheme will complete in the summer and should create 50 new jobs, with, it is hoped, many more being created through the supply chain.

Meldrum Construction is a North-East based company and promised to employ local people on the site."