A LEADING business organisation has condemned regional transport plans and called for them to be rewritten.

The North-East Assembly's draft Regional Transport Strategy was compiled by consultants, at a cost of £100,000 of public money, to address the region's transport problems.

But the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), has denied that it would improve the region's economic health, and criticised it for being too general and limited in scope.

Steve Rankin, the CBI's regional director, said: "The draft strategy is really a very timid document that lacks any sort of vision and simply does not measure up to the economic aspirations, or problems, of the North-East.

"What we have to do is create a 21st Century transport system that will meet the ambitions of 21st Century regional economy.

"The draft strategy gets nowhere near this."

While the CBI agrees that upgrades of the A1 and the A66 - as suggested in the plan and recently endorsed by the Government - are necessary, it argues that they should happen more quickly.

It also calls for the assembly to lobby harder for more investment in the East Coast Main Line and criticises plans for road congestion charging and car parking controls.

Sir David Chapman, the CBI's regional chairman, said: "We are looking for an aggressive strategy that helps to open up the region to both the South and the North, as well as directly overseas."

Malcolm Bowes, assistant director for regional development at the North-East Assembly, said: "We don't necessarily agree with all the points but we are going to discuss them.

"This was a consultants' report which the assembly was happy to circulate.

"We will be putting it, together with all the comments we have received, formally to the assembly, which will form its own view."