ON the surface, the Morton Palms business park development in Darlington seems a perfect "flagship" project for One NorthEast.

The regional development agency can champion its role in a development which will hopefully create 2,000 jobs for the region.

But in a report published by the North-East Regional Assembly yesterday, One NorthEast was criticised for not hitting the target when it comes to bringing enough jobs to deprived communities.

Instead, the agency has been told to gather hard evidence that the flagship projects it is so proud of are actually of value to those people in deprived areas.

One NorthEast has been in existence for three years and its role has always been questionable.

Yesterday's report, and future reviews, are designed to lift the lid on whether the people of the region are getting value for money.

The aim of the review has been to improve accountability and a wide range of people from the public, private and voluntary sector had a say on who exactly the agency should be helping.

The report focused on four areas: job creation in deprived communities, support for small businesses, inward investment and marketing, and information technology.

The main criticisms centered around creating jobs in deprived areas, in particular "flagship" projects such as Morton Palms, in Darlington.

The agency felt the projects "kick-started" regeneration - but the review team was concerned the main beneficiaries were from affluent areas.

There were concerns over whether the agency was being pro-active in attracting developers to use redundant land in deprived communities.

Members also saw the need for there to be proper transport infrastructures in place so people could get access to jobs once they were in place.

But Professor Roy Hudson, chairman of the International Centre for Regional Regeneration and Development Studies, at Durham University, said there was a danger that the work of One NorthEast was being judged too early.

"They have not been going that long and it is difficult to evaluate something which is long-term after a year or two," he said.

"One NorthEast has been trying to get social economy on the mainstream agenda - such as community business and quite literally getting local groups together to do things for themselves.

"In terms of creating work, it would be much more realistic than big inward investment schemes that are going to create 5,000 jobs."

It was the agency's role in helping small businesses which also came in for scrutiny yesterday.

The review panel said there was a need for One NorthEast to simplify the way small businesses got access to funding, including cash from grants, loans or investment.

It was also advised to simplify business start-up advice after clients were confused by too many different organisations offering the same advice.

The agency was criticised for a distinct lack of communication with some of its partners over attracting inward investment, particularly in feeding back why investors had not chosen to locate in the North-East.

The agency said it was planning a series of "round table" meetings to keep communication flowing.

The North-East Assembly has told the agency to draw up an action plan, setting out how it intends to address the 88 recommendations.

Its chairman, Tony Flynn, said the review had been extremely valuable.

One NorthEast chairman Dr John Bridge said the scrutiny process had been a successful exercise and pointed out that some of the criticisms were the responsibility of more than one organisation.

"We were presented with a huge challenge to bring about a renaissance of the region and, together with our partners, are beginning to see the fruits of our labour," he said.