DEVELOPMENT bosses have unveiled a 20-year plan aimed at reversing a North-South prosperity gap that is estimated to be £29bn.

The three northern regional development agencies (RDAs) have united to work towards creating more jobs, investment and opportunities.

The RDAs - One NorthEast, Yorkshire Forward and the Northwest Development Agency - launched a report called The Northern Way yesterday with Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

It was also marked with the announcement of a £100m growth fund to help the regeneration vision become reality.

Detailed recommendations in the report will be considered by Government before the regions draw up a list of funding priorities.

The report includes recommendations to:

* create premier transport links in the north, with a solution to the congestion problem on the A1 Western Bypass near the MetroCentre;

* ensure low-demand housing is replaced at a faster rate, with targets set for affordable properties;

* Bring 100,000 more people back to work by 2014 through the introduction of six pilot schemes to improve help for long-term unemployed;

* Develop "city region" growth strategies for the eight major conurbations - the Tees Valley, Tyne and Wear, Leeds, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Central Lancashire, Sheffield and Hull and the Humber.

Mr Prescott told delegates that regional development agencies have made a big improvement to conditions since they were set up in 1999.

He said the historic under-performance of the North should not be allowed to continue, and forecast that the "many excellent ideas" in the report would help bridge the divide to the South.

"We are meeting the challenge of creating a more prosperous north with a better quality of life," said Mr Prescott.

Among the targets set out in the report are:

* Attracting talented individuals back to the region and increasing the number of business start-ups from 30 per 10,000 people to 33 per 10,000 people by 2008;

* Increasing global trade by concentrating on chemicals, food and drink, advanced engineering, energy and environmental technologies, financial and professional services, and logistics;

* Marketing the North to the world to attract more overseas visitors and new business to the region, and implementing a Welcome to the North public art programme;

* Increasing ship arrivals at northern ports from 22 per cent of the national total in 2002 to about 25 per cent by 2010, and reducing congestion on strategic roads to below the national average.

The report was broadly welcomed by Universities for the North East, the Tees Valley Partnership and the North East Assembly.

But Stockton North MP Frank Cook sounded a note of caution, warning that Teesside could be left at the end of the queue in getting resources because the Tees Valley "city region" was the only one of the eight without a city.