COUNTY Durham will be the North-East's "poor relation" unless a region-wide development plan is changed, a councillor has warned.

Ken Manton, Labour leader of Durham County Council, said the draft Regional Spatial Strategy produced by the North-East Assembly and due for approval in March was "seriously flawed" because it concentrated jobs, growth and development on Tyne and Wear and Teesside.

He said: "In effect, it leaves County Durham as the region's poor relation."

The council's cabinet is to discuss the strategy today.