A CAMPAIGN to clean up the air of Teesside has been stepped up with the launch of a pressure group.

Middlesbrough Mayor Ray Mallon has helped launch a forum for fleet managers and council environmental health officers to discuss cleaner technologies, influence decision making on fuel and transport and pollution-cutting measures.

The national not-for-profit transport organisation East (Environmental and Sustainable Transport) has set up a partnership with all five councils in the Tees Valley, with the aim of reducing emissions.

The Government has signed up to the Kyoto agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 12.5 per cent between 2008 and 2012.

The council at Middlesbrough, where the initial meeting of East took place yesterday, has 45 vehicles running on alternative energy supplies.