THE design for a £4m pedestrian and cycle bridge to span the River Tees has been chosen.

But the successful design is not the one chosen by Teessiders in a poll conducted by Tees Valley Regeneration, the organisation which is commissioning the bridge.

Work on the new bridge between Durham University's Queen's Campus, in Thornaby, and the planned multi-million pound Northbank Business Park development, at Stockton, is expected to begin in the new year.

Money to build the latest eye-catching North-East landmark will come from the European Union, development agency English Partnerships and regional development agency One NorthEast.

The bridge which has been selected was designed by Spence Associates and came second in a recent poll of more than 4,000 Stockton residents asked to choose from five alternatives.

Bridge D was the public's favourite with 1,532 votes in a September poll, but Tees Valley Regeneration chose Bridge C, second favourite with 911 votes.

Peter James, director of development at Tees Valley Regeneration, explained the bridge was needed as an important part of the planned Northbank development and to enable Durham University to expand on the north side of the river.

It would also improve links between the Princess Diana Bridge and the Tees Barrage.

Mr James said that although the public had played an important part in selecting the bridge, other issues - including cost and engineering considerations had to be taken into account.

Mr James said: "The public had a strong preference for two of the designs and we chose one of them.

"However, we had nine different items to consider including sustainability, cost, how easy a given design was to build and it's strategic impact, while the public obviously had to base their decision solely on the picture.

"The third most popular design had mesh over it and, although a fantastic bridge, could not be built because children would climb on it.

"Those kind of considerations had to be taken into account."

One of the unsuccessful entries was designed by Wilkinson Eyre, the company behind Tyneside's award-winning Millennium Bridge.