BISHOP Auckland MP Helen Goodman has joined colleagues across the region urging the Government to rethink a flawed strategy said to be holding back economic growth.

Ms Goodman, a former treasury strategist and now deputy leader of the House of Commons, said the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) did not reflect the North-East's growing potential for creating jobs and attracting business.

In a letter outlining her concerns to Local Government and Communities Minister Hazel Blears, she called for a number of employment sites to be included and allowed to develop.

Among these are the flagship Netpark science and technology centre, in Sedgefield; the industrial estate in Heighington Lane, Newton Aycliffe; a film and media centre in Seaham; the Tursdale Regional Freight Facility and the Eastgate Renewal Energy Village, all County Durham, and a deep-sea container terminal at Teesport.

She also demands extra housing provision in County Durham and commitments to improving road and rail links, specifically the East Coast Main Line, the A66 cross-Pennine route and the A1 in County Durham.

She said: "While I welcome the broad aims of the RSS, I remain concerned that, as it stands, the RSS does not match the ambition of the local community.

"If we are to continue to progress to a knowledge and skills-based economy, the RSS must encourage economic development as far as possible - and it is for this reason that I urge the reassessment of proposals to allow the development of prestige and reserve employment sites, to increase projected housing additions and to provide the transport infrastructure the North East so desperately requires"

The Northern Echo launched its Shaping the Future campaign to highlight the failings of the Government proposals.