Credit Crunch

But in January, Invista announced it was starting consultation on the closure of its Nylon, Intermediates and Polymers plant at Wilton, with 300 jobs on the line.

Warren Primeaux, president of Invista Intermediates, said: "This is a sad and difficult time for everyone, particularly those workers and their families. We have come to the difficult decision that these proposals are necessary after a thorough evaluation of the site's current and potential future viability."

The plant has survived every recession of the last half a century, but it appears its end could be brutally swift.

"General economic recovery during 2009 is therefore essential for their short term health."

Bob Coxon, OBE

Just three months earlier, the company had been recruiting engineers to work on Teesside, offering relocation packages to attract staff from outside the area.

Within days of Invista’s announcement, Bob Coxon OBE, Chair of the North East Process Industry Cluster which represents around 300 chemical manufacturers in the region, told 440 business leaders and executives that parts of the sector were struggling.

"At the end of 2008 the chemical industry worldwide went into a massive decline with major companies reducing and in some cases shutting capacity. It is a worldwide phenomenon. No country, company or region was immune and the North East is no exception."

Through much of the financial crisis of 2008, as banking jobs in the capital were shed in their thousands, chemical manufacturers in the North had been openly bullish about their ability to weather the storm, but as month after month has passed with no sign of a significant increase in the banks’ willingness to lend money, the effects have passed from sector to sector.

Wilton site from above

Even the loss of the simplest loans has sent waves through the economy, that are now lapping at the feet of raw materials manufacturers, like those on Teesside. Fewer car loans mean fewer new cars, so manufacturers stop buying upholstery for seat covers. The upholstery makers stop buying the textile fibres made by companies like Invista.

Not everyone in the sector is suffering, though. Fine & Specialty Chemical companies have reported that it is pretty much business as usual and Teesside is having significant success in attracting new business to the region in the marine fabrication, recycling and renewables sectors.

But with 34,000 employees in the North East, business leaders are clear that the region needs to hold onto its core chemical industry through the tough times forecast for 2009.

Their problem is that the companies’ futures are not in North East hands. The big employers are owned by foreign companies and their fates will be decided on the interests of those companies, not the interests of the North East.