A COUNCILLOR said funding must be found urgently to save the future of steel-making in the North-East.

Councillor Val Miller, Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council's representative on Action Steel, which represents present and former steel-working areas across the UK, said £16m needed to secure 8,000 jobs in the Teesside steel industry, as reported in the Northern Echo yesterday, must be found before it is too late.

Coun Miller wants regional development agency One NorthEast, which is responsible for getting the funding, to secure the money as soon as possible.

She said: "Not enough is being done to save steel-making on Teesside. Everyone is waiting for One NorthEast to find the funding, but the agency is giving the impression that there is lots of time.

"It should be screaming for the funding to be secured, not telling us that discussions are still at an early stage.

"Soon it will be too late."

A spokeswoman for One NorthEast said that groups and individuals in the Tees Valley and the region, together with steel-making firm Corus, were putting their efforts behind the future of steel-making on Teesside.

She said: "The first stage in this is to assist in developing a business plan, and until a detailed plan is developed, it is not possible to establish the level of public finance available.

"Once this plan has been fully developed, any public funding support is subject to formal appraisal and statutory regulation.

"The discussions are in an early stage because of the complexity of the business proposal and because of the large number of partners involved."