I READ with interest your recent article about a conference being held to discuss the transport strategy for the North-East, which is something we desperately need.

However, I also noted that of all those involved not one was from Teesside. So yet again we are being sidelined on developments in the North-East.

It seems that we in Teesside are not being considered in the planning that is on-going. Just recently we were an afterthought in discussions about rail development and bringing faster rail services to the region.

To illustrate this point, we will not be getting faster train services, in fact planning is afoot to stop the Middlesbrough to Manchester service which we currently enjoy.

We seem to be the Cinderella part of the region and it is about time our MPs started to earn their handsome salaries.

Chris Gallacher, Ukip Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Redcar.