THE ‘saviour’ of Bishop Auckland has met with businesses to promote the economic importance of small, specialist companies.

Jonathan Ruffer, chairman of Auckland Castle Trust, visited the South Durham Enterprise Agency (SDEA), in Bishop Auckland, to recognise the success of expert businesses which are essential in the economic growth of the area.

The group met with South Durham Drafting, a small business, set up in 1999, which now brings in clients from across Great Britain.

Mr Ruffer spoke about the importance of small, but high quality, business which keeps skilled people in the area.

He said: “If you simply let an area go stale you might be left with high employment but it gets less and less interesting, after a bit it compromises society.

“It [small business] not only brings wealth but shows this is a good part of the world to be in, you cannot put a value on that.”

He added: “The agency is key to what goes on here, without it the place would be a series of barn doors.”

Despite the difficult economical climate, South Durham Drafting has continued to grow.

The small company, with only four members of staff, works regionally and nationally with schools such as King James 1 Academy and large businesses like Hitachi.

David Land, of the North East Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “It is not often you get something like Hitachi with hundreds of engineering of manufacturing starting up.

“You need to encourage the small enterprises to become medium and the medium to become bigger.

“It isn’t just about how many jobs they create directly either, but the second and third generation companies that benefit.”

The SDEA is a non-profit, independent economic development agency developed to create and sustain jobs in the community.

Durham County Councillor Rob Yorke, chairman of SDEA, said it was important that key figures in the regeneration of Bishop Auckland and south Durham such as the Local Enterprise Partnership, SDEA and Auckland Castle Trust learn about each other’s work.

He said: “It is about partnership working and important so we don’t duplicate projects.”