AN INTERNATIONAL company has signed up to be the first to move onto the RAF Locking development. Bosses at hi-tech firm Oxford Instruments have signed on the dotted line in an £8million project to move part of the company, Plasma Technology Ltd, onto the

AN INTERNATIONAL company has signed up to be the first to move onto the RAF Locking development.Bosses at hi-tech firm Oxford Instruments have signed on the dotted line in an £8million project to move part of the company, Plasma Technology Ltd, onto the former military camp in Spring 2008. The site was officially renamed Locking Parklands on Thursday.Staff will move from the company's current premises in North End, Yatton, to a new 50,000sq ft factory and offices at the 62 acre site on the outskirts of Weston.A spokesman said: "The former RAF Locking site is an ideal location for our rapidly expanding company as we estimate we will be employing over 200 staff by the time we relocate."In last week's Weston & Somerset Mercury it was exclusively revealed how the South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA), which owns RAF Locking along with English Partnerships, wants to start work on buildings such as schools, offices and leisure centres by next year, creating hundreds of new jobs. It also wants to start building up to 1,800 new homes there.The Government agency has employed a team of architects to plan how the revamped site would look. Last week a meeting was held between architects, parish councillors and representatives from other involved groups, to discuss what should be built at the site. Plans for a three-day consultation and workshop next month were announced at the meeting.The South West Regional Development Agency is currently looking for a developer to bring the architects' plans to life at RAF Locking, which it bought with English Partnerships in 2002.