A £4.5M BUSINESS park is to be handed almost £500,000 to make it more upmarket - despite remaining empty for three years.

The first company to commit to Queen's Meadow Business Park, in Hartlepool, has been announced.

But the site, first developed in 2001, has been branded "a waste of money" by a Hartlepool councillor.

A total of £459,262 will be spent on landscaping the site.

Regional development agency One NorthEast will give the money to Hartlepool Borough Council through another government agency, Tees Valley Partnership.

But Stan Kaiser, Independent Councillor on Hartlepool Borough Council, said the money would be better spent on persuading companies to occupy the empty buildings than on landscaping.

One NorthEast has announced that property development company Priority Estates will move to Queens Meadow in the near future.

A One NorthEast spokes-man said: "Subject to formal approval to proceed, we would anticipate the landscaping work beginning next month to be completed by the end of March. The park's first tenant is due to move on site imminently.

"The site is recognised as a key development for the future of Tees Valley and is key to attracting high-quality business and employment to the area."

Alistair Arkley, chairman of Tees Valley Partnership, said: "Queen's Meadow is seen as a key development site, both regionally and within our vision for the regeneration of the Tees Valley and is one of the cornerstones in bringing new jobs and investment to Hartlepool.

"The commitment of Priority Estates to Queen's Meadow has obviously been a major step forward. We are confident that we will see rapid progress in attracting new tenants and the kind of businesses we need to drive forward the regeneration of Hartlepool and the whole sub-region."

Planning permission to build offices, which will have workshop and leisure facilities, has recently been granted to UK Steel Enterprise Ltd.

Queen's Meadow was first developed for £1.2m by Wycliffe Estates before it was taken over by One NorthEast.

A recent council report said Hartlepool had fewer self-employed people and a lower business start-up rate than the national average, although no statistics were given.