THE Duke of Kent officially opened Sita UK's new waste to energy plant at Billingham on Wednesday of last week(8).

A subsidiary of French-based Suez Environnment, the company has built the plant on behalf of the South Tyne and Wear Waste Management Partnership, which includes Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland councils.

It has created more than 40 full time jobs on site with a further 24 at waste transfer stations operated by the councils which are no longer reliant on landfill. The waste taken to the plant creates power for about 30,000 homes.

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ALISON Crake, senior partner of Crake and Mallon, the Stockton funeral firm, has been appointed chairman of the National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) Committee for Professional Development (CPD).

A member of the NAFD executive committee she was also involved in the recent review of the Code of Practice. The CPD exists to develop, co-ordinate, maintain and deliver educational qualifications and courses for corporate and individual development within the funeral profession.

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ANDY Powell, 52, has been appointed customer services director for Broadacres Housing Association.

The new section covers housing management, community involvement, a young persons' homelessness service, older peoples' services, women's refuge and service for people with learning disabilities and mental health problems.

Mr Powell lives in Redcar and is married with two children. He was previously head of housing for Thirteen Group.

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BUSINESS law firm, Endeavour Partnership has has moved into new offices on Teesdale Business Park.

Just a short distance from its former premises, it has been named Tobias House, in memory of Toby Tilly, who died in 2011 after more than ten years as senior partner. The three storey building provides a range of meeting rooms and conference facilities for seminars and events, as well as room for further expansion. The firm was launched in 1999 by four partners who saw the need for a law firm to provide purely commercial legal services.

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AN ACCOUNTANCY firm has taken on four more staff.

Evolution LLP, based in Wynyard, recruited Linda Patch, chartered accountant and chartered tax advisor as senior tax manager, Emily Brian and Danielle Smith to work in accounts and audit, and Kayleigh Castle, who has joined the payroll team. The firm, which now has 60 staff, also recently promoted Tim Mallon to associate member and Francesca Crossling to tax manager.

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MORE than a quarter of SME bosses across the North East are in constant contact with the office while on holiday, according to a recent survey.

A further quarter say they are in touch with work at least once a day while on annual leave, while 24 per cent check emails but don’t make contact with the office unless it’s urgent.

The figures are from the latest Close Brothers Business Barometer, a quarterly poll of SME owners and managers from a range of sectors across the UK.

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