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More than 4,000 new jobs have been touted for a new manufacturing park at Teesside Airport - if a new borrowing plan is given the green light.

Leaders of the Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) will vote on a £23.6m loan on Friday to fund a road and initial infrastructure for the development on the south side of the airport.

The bigger vision is to attract firms to 270-acres of land to create as many as 4,400 jobs by attracting firms from the logistics, manufacturing and commercial sectors.

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said the plan would form part of a £200m development which had been worked on for months.

He added: “I’ve always said our airport wouldn’t just be about flights to the Costa del Sol.

“The airport is a major economic driver and job creator.

“Since bringing our airport back into public ownership and saving it from closure, a number of businesses have already approached us wanting to set up at the airport.

“If approved, the funding will allow us to unlock the Southside of the airport – a space which has huge potential for businesses of all sectors, not just aviation, and the creation of 4,400 good quality, well paid, high skilled jobs.”

(Image: Ian Cooper / Teesside Live)

The masterplan is to sort out the infrastructure on the land - namely road access to the A67, power supply and flood mitigation - by entering a “joint venture partnership” with a private firm which would then build the business park.

If agreed, the £23.6m would be lent to the airport by the TVCA.

The airport would in turn join a joint venture with a private firm with the loan paid back over the next 25 years.

It’s not the first time efforts have been mounted to bring a business park to the airport.

Former owners Peel drew up a masterplan for a park on the north side of the site more than a decade ago.

But it never came to full fruition.

The airport was brought back into public hands earlier this year as part of a £588.2m investment plan agreed by council leaders and Mr Houchen.

Reports for this week’s cabinet meeting state the park has “the potential to provide 3.4m sq ft of commercial space” - the same size of about 44 football pitches.

The airport’s 10-year rescue plan includes commitments to increase passenger numbers to 1.4m, secure a low-cost carrier by 2022, and create thousands of new jobs.

But the rescue plan doesn’t go into detail about the business park.

However, Mr Houchen said the “Southside” park could allow the airport to “break even” much sooner than expected.

And he added the money gained in rents from the site would be pumped back into the airport.

Mr Houchen said: “We have already got four companies that want to locate on the Southside - it’s really great.”

The mayor added work on the road would start in January with the first tenant arriving on the site in the next 12 months.

Teesside Airport is operated by Stobart Aviation and is owned in a 75/25 split between the TVCA and the firm.

Last month, the airport recorded its best KLM flight numbers to Amsterdam in 14 years.

Mr Houchen added: “Getting the ball rolling on the Southside development on Friday will be the perfect end to a brilliant year for our airport.

“We are making great progress on our 10-year rescue plan and we can look forward to many more exciting opportunities in 2020.”