THE leader of a bid that would see parts of the North- East go it alone with their economic strategy last night said those behind it remained “totally committed” to the plans.

Sandy Anderson, chairman of Tees Valley Unlimited, said a so-called Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) for the Tees Valley was the best solution to addressing the area’s needs and opportunities.

Mr Anderson’s comments followed a request by the Northern Business Forum – which represents some of the region’s main business organisations – for an urgent meeting with council chiefs.

The forum believes a single organisation to replace the soon-to-be scrapped regional development agency One North East should be the preferred option rather than individual LEPs which could be set up by consortiums involving local councils in the Tees Valley and other areas.

Its chairman John Cuthbert said current LEP proposals from the North-East did not offer sufficient scale to deliver the functionality required to support the North-East economy.

And he said it had very strong representation from business to indicate that there were grave concerns that business engagement for current LEP proposals had not been adequate to date.

But Mr Anderson said: “The LEP proposal has received considerable support from businesses throughout the Tees Valley and they view it as a significant opportunity for the area to build on our specific strengths.”

He cast aside fears that the likes of the Tees Valley would not be able to compete adequately with other more populous areas of the country if were to plough its own path.

He said: “In economic terms the Tees Valley is of a scale and size not only to be able to compete with the likes of Leeds and Manchester, but with international competitors such as Rotterdam.

“For us the issue of critical mass is not about population numbers, but the fact that our industries provide more than 25 per cent of the North-East’s entire Gross Domestic Product means it is a strong economic entity.”

Teesside businessman Alistair Arkley, a former chairman of the business forum, said it would be “crazy” to move away from a regional economic strategy.

■ A spokesman for the European Commission’s regional policy commissioner Johannes Hahn has said the Government’s plan to get rid of development agencies could put the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) programme at risk.

The North-East has received more than £200m from the fund, which aims to create jobs and stimulate economic growth and is administered in this region by One North East.