CIVIL servants should be moved out of overheated London to a "necklace" of railway towns and cities in the North-East, the Government has been told.

The Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) has called for places such as Darlington, Durham and York to be the new homes for Government agencies currently based in the capital.

Chancellor Gordon Brown has already said he hopes to move 20,000 public sector jobs to the regions, to act as a powerful driver for economic growth in poorer areas.

Early next month, Sir Michael Lyons, a local government academic, is due to hand his long-awaited report to the Treasury, suggesting how that could be achieved.

Now the TCPA, in its formal response to the Lyons Review, has demanded that the relocation process build on the existing strengths of places in areas such as the North-East.

Professor Peter Roberts, who co-ordinated the response, said: "Why not relocate part of the Ministry of Defence's procurement division to Sunderland or Teesside?

"There are a lot of skills in that area in dealing with major defence contracts, so why not build on that?

"And why not relocate the rural affairs section of the department of the environment to somewhere in North Yorkshire, such as Northallerton. That would make sense.

"There would be a big advantage in relocating to a necklace of places along the East Coast main line, such as Darlington, Durham and York, where parts of ministries would be close together."

The Northern Echo revealed last month that a study by property consultants King Sturge suggested Darlington as a contender for relocated public sector jobs.