WORK has finally started on a £500m flagship redevelopment scheme for the North-East.

After years of false starts, plans and wrangles, work has started on the Middlehaven site, opening up Middlesbrough's old dockland, site for re-development.

The work which began yesterday was the start of a £7.3m contract to build a new A66 interchange to provide access to Middlehaven.

"The importance of the start of work at Middlehaven should not be understated - today is the day the talking stops and the 'doing' begins,'' said Joe Docherty, chief executive of Tees Valley Regeneration, the urban regeneration company leading the project.

"Seeing activity on the site is the prelude to the most ambitious, significant and exciting development Middlesbrough has seen for many decades.

"The buildings at Middlehaven will not appear overnight but the sight of men at work is a fulfilment of a commitment made by Tees Valley Regeneration," he said yesterday.

The organisation says the scheme will also improve traffic flow into the town and be completed in just under a year.

One of the top priorities set by Middlesbrough Council and development partner Tees Valley Regeneration was to minimise the number of lane closures on the A66, Shepherdson Way and Borough Road.

Balfour Beatty won the contract after developing an innovative diversion scheme which addressed these strict requirements.

The interchange will replace the existing North Ormesby roundabout which presently serves the Riverside Stadium.

Mr Docherty said: "The awarding of this contract is another milestone in the process that will see Middlehaven become a reality.

"This junction will provide a much needed access to this key site, which as previously reported is attracting significant developer interest."

Leading European architect Will Alsop has drawn up ground breaking designs for the site which is the size of 250 football pitches and could create 3,000 jobs.

Other features of the scheme include 2,400 homes built over 20 years, 800,000 square feet of office and commercial development and about 500,000 square feet of leisure development.

When this latest master plan was unveiled earlier this year, Mr Docherty quipped: "I know that Middlehaven has had more launches than Cape Canaveral - but this isn't just talk.''