PEOPLE are being given an opportunity to help select which items will feature in a new exhibition on Teesside.

Called The People's Choice, it will run at Hartlepool Art Gallery, from August 12 to September 17, and will showcase a range of paintings from Hartlepool Borough Council's permanent collection.

To help choose which pictures will be featured, local people and visitors to Hartlepool are being urged to go to the gallery between now and July 16 to vote for the ones they would most like to see.

The most popular will be included in the exhibition.

The gallery has an album of numbered photos of more than 60 of the most popular paintings from the permanent collection. All people have to do is write the number of their favourite on a voting slip and place it in the box provided.

Ed Norton, the council's exhibitions officer, said: "We are always exploring different ways of displaying items from the town's permanent collection. We already have Hidden Treasures, the permanent rolling programme of the town's exhibits, but we thought it would also be a great idea to give people the chance to make their own choice.

Hartlepool Art Gallery is in Church Square and is open Tuesdays to Saturdays, from 10am to 5.30pm, and Sundays, from 2pm to 5pm.

Admission is free.

"We have a very varied and vibrant collection of paintings, and I'm sure the exhibition will be a particularly memorable one."

Hartlepool Art Gallery is in Church Square and is open Tuesdays to Saturdays, from 10am to 5.30pm, and Sundays, from 2pm to 5pm.

Admission is free.