I REMEMBER being asked to sign a petition at Durham County Council calling on the Government to allocate the Hitachi rail plant to Newton Aycliffe.

Construction work has now started and I would like to thank Sedgefield MP, Phil Wilson, and the Government for providing this modern plant that will create more than 700 jobs in the North-East.

I am also delighted to hear that Hitachi is going to re-locate its rail headquarters to the UK.

No doubt the massive success of the nearby Nissan car plant helped inspire both Hitachi and our Government to bring this new plant to job-starved County Durham.

Ben Ord, Spennymoor.