A CONFERENCE centre being built in the region will open by the end of this year, creating jobs and pumping its profits into the community.

The Xcel Conference Centre on Aycliffe Business Park, Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, is due to open in December and will be the largest conference centre between Harrogate and Newcastle.

Phil Wilson, MP for Sedgefield, and Stuart Watkins, from the County Durham Development Company, visited the site last week. They heard that all profits made by Xcel Centre will be re-invested into community action programmes and charitable activities in the region and that up to 100 jobs will be created.

Facilities will include a 1,200-seat capacity auditorium, an exhibition hall and six conference rooms with catering services, a coffee shop and children’s day nursery.

It will also become home to the growing Xcel Church, formerly Aycliffe Christian Life Centre, whose leaders helped set up the development.

Mr Wilson said: “This is exactly what is needed for the area and a fantastic opportunity for Newton Aycliffe.

“It will attract new people and businesses to the area and is an excellent facility for both the surrounding community and the North East.”

Kerina Clark, centre manager, said: “ Our aim is to provide the best conference facilities in the North-East and, in doing so, be able to invest back into the local communities.”