MORE than 600 jobs could be created by the redevelopment of former steel factory land on Teesside.

The £3m transformation in South Bank will introduce a road link, power, drainage and other utilities for freight operators and haulage businesses using Tees Port.

The project is a joint venture between One NorthEast and Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council. Hall Construction Services, in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, has been awarded the contract to develop the South Tees Freight Park.

The land was used by British Steel before being sold to the council for redevelopment.

Alistair Arkley, board member for the Regional Development Agency (RDA) and chairman of Tees Valley Partnership, said: "The development of a South Tees Freight Park will provide a key location for haulage firms and help towards servicing the needs of the busy Tees Port.

"By remediating the land and providing the infrastructure needed to support transport operators, we aim to transform this derelict site and bring valuable new business to this area of the borough."

One NorthEast will be supervising the development of the 22-acre site and Redcar and Cleveland council will then market the freight park through its economic development service.

Councillor Eric Jackson, Mayor of Redcar and Cleveland council, said: "The site has the potential to provide around nine significant industrial plots that can house freight operators and associated office units.

"Both One NorthEast and the council will be promoting the site to attract potential business investors which will, hopefully, bring local employment opportunities with them."

The South Tees Freight Park is one of many regeneration projects where the RDA is working alongside local partners to transform the landscape of the Tees Valley.

The £2.25m Morton Palms scheme in Darlington, where 28 acres is being developed for use by leisure and light-industrial businesses, is soon to start, and the Queen's Meadow Business Park, in Hartlepool, is also breathing new life into a brown-field site.

Stephen Hall, managing director of Hall Construction Services, said: "The company has been involved in a number of major redevelopment projects in the Tees Valley and we are pleased to have the contract to establish the South Tees Freight Park.

"The main works will involve the construction of a new loop road that will link the site to major supply routes and also the introduction of all the drainage and utilities works needed to support business activity."

* The Government was last night urged to call a summit to discuss the jobs crisis in the steel industry.

SteelAction, which represents 18 local authorities in steel areas, said cuts at the country's biggest steelmaker Corus, including 1,000 job losses announced last week, were not inevitable.

The Government is working in partnership with Corus, unions and Dutch ministers in an attempt to minimise job losses, Tony Blair said yesterday.

All the measures possible would be put in place to help those who were laid off to find new employment, he told the Commons at question time.