A FORMER councillor has launched a website putting the case against the planned North-East regional assembly.

Stan Smith, of South Shields, served as a Tory on both South Tyneside Borough and the former Tyne and Wear County councils and describes himself on the site as a community campaigner.

He says there is little appetite among ordinary people in the region for an assembly and that it will be another expensive layer of government that will do little which is not done by other authorities and bodies already.

He cites as an example the tenfold escalation of the cost of the Scottish Parliament building and claims that the abolition of one tier of local government in County Durham will mean job losses if the savings claimed for the move are to be achieved.

Mr Smith said he set up the site after giving talks on the subject.

"There didn't seem to have been anyone who had put together a comprehensive case against the regional assembly,'' he said. "I thought I'd put it on the web so people can see it.

"It is an alternative argument for people to pick up. I have had a number of replies including some from other parts of the country.

The pro-assembly campaign, Yes4theNorthEast, which has attracted substantial funding and is supported by politicians, regional businessmen and union leaders, launched its own site earlier this year.

Mr Smith's site address is www.smithq.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk.