A NORTH-EAST town needs a voice at regional level to consolidate the gains it has made and to ensure that its regeneration is completed, its mayor said last night.
Middlesbrough Mayor Ray Mallon, above, giving his second annual report to the town's full council, said that any elected regional assembly must not become an additional layer of bureaucracy.
He said: "I recognise the potential of regional assemblies to provide better co-ordination and a stronger voice for the region, as well as better regulation of many quangos.
"However, there is a clear risk that if 25 elected representatives merely think of their own backyards, then nothing will change. We will simply have an additional layer of bureaucracy."
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