THE Tees Valley will today be offered the chance to join the great cities of England in grabbing key powers from Whitehall, ministers will say.

Its five authorities - Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees - will be invited to bid to agree a 'City Deal', to loosen the government's iron grip on decision-making.

Powers over tax-and-spending, welfare-to-work programmes, transport schemes, regeneration projects, business investment and skills training are up for grabs, if local leaders can make the case.

The Tees Valley was immediately put among the front-runners to secure the go-ahead, when a minister said its 'local enterprise partnership' (LEP) had made a "flying start" in preparing for the bid.

In an interview with The Northern Echo, cities minister Greg Clark - who was born in Middlesbrough - said: "The Tees Valley has particularly impressive in already pushing very hard for this.

"The way the political leaders in the Tees Valley have come together shows there is a real energy in the area, to fulfil the potential that has always been there."

Until now, only the biggest, so-called 'Core Cities' - Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield - have been given 'City Deals'.

However, the Tees Valley LEP will compete with 19 other urban areas - including Sunderland - for an unknown number of new deals that will go ahead next year.

And there will be direct funding reward - merely greater powers to decide how government grants are spent - at a time when local councils are poised to make further savage cuts.

Nevertheless, Linda Edworthy, director of policy at the Tees Valley LEP, said: "I'm extremely pleased we are on the list, because having more control over the way we use money is very important.

"It also means we can get the profile that the Core Cities enjoy at the moment, with all the opportunities that should flow from that."

Ms Edworthy said it was too early to say what would be in Tees Valley's bid, but added: "The key challenge is the creation of more private-sector jobs, to rebalance the economy."

Of the Sunderland bid, Paul Woolston, chair of the North East Local Enterprise Partnership said:  “This is great news for Sunderland and the wider region.  

"Sunderland is a strong authority which has an impressive track record of working well in partnership with others to attract major investment to the region. We’re delighted that the city now has a chance to bring significant new funds to the region.

“The North East LEP is very fortunate to have city deals for first Newcastle and now Sunderland - the only LEP area to host two city deals.  We are already benefitting from Newcastle’s successful City Deal bid, and Sunderland’s proposals will extend the impact of locally-based, targeted investment for the region. The City Deals underpin the strength of public and private sector partnerships across the North East LEP area.”

Mr Clark said his ambition was nothing less than to allow the likes of the Tees Valley to compete with the greatest cities of Europe, which all enjoyed far greater freedoms.

He added: "Most people recognise that this process is long overdue - to hand over the powers that central government has hoarded for decades.

"This is absolutely radical. If you look at what has been agreed with Manchester - giving it a share of future tax receipts, that would normally got to the Treasury - no-one would have dreamt we would be in that position."

The announcement comes against the backdrop of North-East councils warning of more steep cuts to services, including £11m-worth in Middlesbrough - slashing support for the disabled, elderly and children.

But Mr Clark defended those cuts as "essential", adding: "City Deals are not about the funding of local authorities - this is about devolving powers."