TAXPAYERS could pay part of the estimated £250,000 cost of new road signs because an airport has changed its name.

Teesside Airport's name change to Durham Tees Valley Airport will mean that up to 60 signs will have to be replaced across the North-East and North Yorkshire.

The airport, at Middleton St George, near Darlington, has indicated it will seek public funding towards the cost of the changes. The revelation has infuriated opponents of the rebranding.

Stockton South Labour MP Dari Taylor said: "This is essentially a privately-owned airport with some local authority input, so if they think this is so important why don't they pay for it themselves?

"I don't think the public purse is there for trimmings, and certainly not as something that you can just dip into, especially as I am not confident this change of name will make a jot of difference."

Hugh Lang, the airport's chief executive, said a mixture of public and private funding would pay for the signs.

He said: "We are doing a survey for the whole of the region, which we then have to assess and look at overall costings and various methods of funding the signs.

"The sooner we can get the rebranding exercise put to bed the sooner we can push forward."

Airport spokesman John Waiting said cash would come from the shareholders, but also suggested that it could look to regional development agency One North-East for help with what he called "quite a substantial sum of money".

Private company Peel Airports is the majority owner of Teesside Airport, with 75 per cent of the shares.

Six councils - Durham County Council, and Darlington, Stockton, Middlesbrough, Hartlepool and Redcar and Cleveland borough councils - own the rest.

A spokesman for Hartlepool Borough Council said: "We have not been asked to contribute towards the cost of changing any road signs."