INVESTMENT and jobs in the Tees Valley could be placed in jeopardy if a rival shipyard company takes over the stricken Cammell Laird company, it has been claimed.

Neil Etherington, chief executive of the Tees Valley Development Company (TVDC), was speaking after it was revealed that trade unions representing the workers have urged the Government to block the sale of the company to the A&P group because they fear the company would shut down yards in the North-East and Merseyside.

Cammell Laird went into receivership this summer. Its yard at South Bank, on Teesside, was mothballed and 600 workers on Tyneside and at the company's Merseyside yard are facing a similar fate.

Mr Etherington said his company was working closely with Redcar MP Vera Baird to stress to the Government the threat to the future of the UK ship repair industry if the sale of Cammell Laird amounted to what he described as "nothing more than a buy-to-close operation".

The TVDC favours a bid for the South Bank yard by businessman Eric Welsh, who ran the yard in the 1990s, but it fears receivers PricewaterhouseCoopers are tempted to accept the A&P bid.

Mr Etherington said: "Sadly this is an all-too-familiar situation where the interests of the receiver could well be at loggerheads with the interests of the area. We believe that the plans by Eric Welsh offer the prospect of real activity and real jobs at South Bank.

"With Vera Baird and other interests, including Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, we shall be emphasising to the Government what is at stake nationally and for the Tees Valley.

"There is a real danger that one ship repair company, in an effort to solve its own pressures, may buy up Cammell Laird simply to kill off potential competition.

"That would be bad news for the future of the UK and its ability to compete in the ship repair field - and for our area it could mean a valuable facility being at best mothballed and at worst closed down forever."