Around Ј200m will be invested in the 400,000tpa Wilton plant

Huntsman Chemical has given the go ahead for the construction of a 400,000tpa LDPE plant to be built in north-east UK at cost of Ј200m (E292m).

Subject to the signing of a technology licence, the US group expects work to start on the project next year. The plant, which it claims is the world’s biggest, will come on stream in 2007.

The investment has won Ј16.5m (E24.1m) in DTI grants and will create nearly 120 permanent jobs at the site in Wilton, Teesside. At the same time it will support a further 750 jobs in the area where Huntsman operates the former ICI steam cracker it acquired in 1999.

According to the privately-owned $9.5bn (E7.9bn) turnover US group, the new low density polyethylene plant will reverse the UK’s current trade deficit in the material. Chief executive Peter Huntsman announced the investment simultaneously with Patricia Hewitt, Secretary of State at the Department of Trade and Industry.

“It is good news for Huntsman, for the economy of the north-east and for the UK as a whole. We have worked hard to make it a reality, and the faith and confidence of the UK government has been very important to the process,” he said.