THE consortium leading the campaign for the North-East to become home to a £1bn energy research centre yesterday appealed to the region to back its bid.

The North-East has been shortlisted as one of three regions in the UK that could become home to the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI), with a final decision expected in October.

The region's ETI consortium includes Newcastle, Durham and Northumbria universities, the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), on Teesside, and the New and Renewable Energy Centre (Narec), in Northumberland - and is supported by regional development agency One NorthEast.

The campaign team has appealed for local people to support the bid online.

The Government project, which would have a main centre supported by smaller sites across the country, is expected to lead to at least £1bn of investment and the creation of thousands of jobs.

Work on establishing the ETI would start soon after the decision is made.

Campaign organisers want the Devonshire Building at Newcastle University to become the project's headquarters. They say more than £6bn has been invested in energy facilities in the region in recent years.

Consortiums from Scotland and the Midlands are the North-East's rivals in the race to win the ETI, which will be funded by the Government and private companies including Shell and BP.

Professor Chris Brink, vice- chancellor of Newcastle University, appealed for support during the coming weeks, when the selection panel will examine the cases of the shortlisted regions.

He said: "We have a huge array of expertise and facilities on our doorstep and I look forward to continuing to work with our partners.

"I believe that the North-East consortium is in a unique position to take this bid forward."

Supporters can back the bid at http://eti.ncl.ac.uk/support/