ENGINEERING company Cleveland Bridge has backed plans to move government to Darlington and the North-East.

The bridge builder, which is supplying and erecting the steelwork for the new Wembley Stadium, has been in Darlington for more than a century.

President and chief executive of operations Ian Reeves said: "There is a pool of talent here in Darlington, and its location in terms of the motorway network and rail and air is excellent.

"I have been talking to people about promoting Darlington and the whole of the North-East as a place for substantial investment.

"The ability to draw upon such a wide catchment area of relevant skills for our industry and the cost base here in terms of housing and other things makes it a quite outstanding location for us."

Mr Reeves said there would be a knock-on effect should civil service departments relocate.

He said: "Any inward investment into this area would create other investment opportunities and that can only be good for the development of Darlington and the surrounding area.

"We need to sell Darlington as a place to invest in, to live, to work and spend leisure time here.

"If government were to move Darlington, that would bring new talent into the area."