Jobs are in jeopardy at a North East chemicals company after its owners announced it is proposing to close one of its plants.
Petrochemicals giant Ineos said it has launched a consultation on the potential closure of its Seal Sands Acrylonitrile plant, which employs 224 workers.
The company said not all the jobs would be lost if the plant is closed because of other activities at the site, which Ineos has owned since 2008.
A statement said that despite investing more than 鈧200m (拢180m) to counter decades of significant underinvestment, the company believes an equivalent sum is needed to meet the company鈥檚 standards and environmental regulations, and that nothing more can be done to ensure operations are safe and economically viable.
The firm said: 鈥淚t would require another 鈧200m just to meet Ineos standards and environmental regulations.
鈥淭he company intends to consult on any viable alternatives to closure. The acrylonitrile process needs careful management and involves handling significant quantities of hazardous material.
鈥淭he company feels that it would not be possible to guarantee the long-term safety of our employees or our neighbours through continued operation of the plant and have thus reluctantly concluded that we should consider the option to close.
Paul Overment, Ineos Nitriles chief executive, said: 鈥淎fter considering many options, we feel that we must now consult with employees on the potential closure of the plant.
鈥淲e do so with a heavy heart but there is no escaping the fact that decades of underinvestment on the site have led us to this point.
鈥淢anufacturing assets need constant renewal if they are to survive.
鈥淭he last 10 years have proven that it is almost impossible to play catch-up and the lesson for us and other 海角视频 manufacturers is that constant reinvestment is vital for long-term prosperity.鈥
It was reported in March that Ineos had written to then Business Secretary Greg Clark with a threat to close the plant unless the Government could help 鈥渄efer compliance with the regulations鈥.
Environment Agency figures showed the plant had breached environmental limits 176 times between 2014 and 2017, mainly for air and water quality.
