To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what discussions his Department has had with the Teesside development corporation about Preston farm, Stockton on Tees.

My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence Procurement announced today that the defence quality assurance laboratories will not be relocating to Preston farm. This leaves the way open for a series of new developments on the site. The Teesside development corporation will be announcing the first of these today, a £7 million investment by Livera Foods plc. The new factory is expected to create up to 700 new jobs. In addition, it is expected that a further 100 jobs will be created by the company's suppliers, and the construction contracts for the new factory will employ about 80 people.The development corporation has received a number of other inquiries about the possibility of development on the Preston farm site and hopes to be in the position to make further announcements shortly.