MPs have demanded more Government cash to end the neglect of road and rail links into ports such as Tees and Hartlepool.

A report by the Commons transport select committee has attacked the Government for not funding desperately-needed infrastructure improvements.

The committee said Brit-ain's ports could only prosper if ministers were directly involved in planning, funding and development of better transport links.

The report's conclusions were immediately echoed by PD Teesport, the operators of Tees and Hartlepool deep-water ports, which handles 50 million tonnes of cargo every year.

Martyn Pellew, the comapny's group development director, said the port desperately needed cash help to meet its aim of switching freight from road to rail.

It would cost up to £3m to improve the rail sidings to allow it to increase the number of weekly train movements from 130, the current limit.

But Mr Pellew said applications for freight facilities grants had been suspended by the cash-strapped Strategic Rail Authority (SRA).

Meanwhile, the Tees Valley Spur rail line, from the port to the East Coast main line at Darlington, needs an investment of up to £12m to allow bigger containers to be taken along it.

Mr Pellow said PD Teesport had started negotiations with the SRA in a bid to upgrade the rail line to Darlington, as well as the East Coast main line north of Doncaster.

Tees and Hartlepool is the country's second biggest port for liquid bulk and the third biggest for dry bulk, according to 2001 figures.