A FORMER accounts clerk was unveiled yesterday as the new chairman of regional development agency One NorthEast.

Margaret Fay, managing director at Tyne Tees Television, will replace Dr John Bridge in the £47,800-a-year job when he completes his five-year term in December.

The appointment, as predicted by The Northern Echo yesterday, was broadly welcomed, although it did cause surprise among sections of the business community, with many backing close rival Bob Coxon, senior vice-president of ICI.

Mrs Fay, 54, who has risen through the ranks during 22 years with Tyne Tees Television after joining its finance department, was appointed managing director in 1997 and is said to be well known for her "open and direct style".

North-East born and living in South Shields, she is a non-executive director of Darlington Building Society and a board member of the North-East Chamber of Commerce, as well as being a governor at Teesside University.

Mrs Fay said she would be working to ensure the success of a North-East regional assembly, should the public decide they want one, and would also look at issues surrounding rural parts of the region.

She said: "I want to be an enabler, bringing together the skills of the One NorthEast board and the chief executive and his officers to determine strategic direction for the agency and the whole region."

Stemming the loss of the region's manufacturing jobs was a big concern, she said.

"We should be looking to grow our own business and continuing to ensure our workforce is as skilled as possible. Where inward investment is concerned, we need to ensure that as part of the decision-making process, when a company comes into the region, they sustain their business here when times are hard."

Dr Bridge said: "Margaret Fay brings to the job a wealth of business experience in her role heading up a successful television company.

"She was selected on merit from a list of outstanding candidates, she has a firm commitment to the North-East and can bring real leadership qualities to our agency, based on a deep understanding of the region."

Alistair Arkley, chairman of the Tees Valley Partnership, said: "Margaret Fay's appointment is good news for the agency and the region. She is someone who has earned her business credentials in what is undoubtedly a very tough and competitive industry."

'Unfinished business' awaits new chairman

MARGARET Fay faces a number of challenges in her chairmanship of One NorthEast with her soon-to-be predecessor Dr John Bridge yesterday saying the agency had "unfinished business".

Dr Bridge told The Northern Echo that One NorthEast had consistently met Government targets over the past four years on job creation, training and business start-ups.

He also said he was proud of the links that had been forged with the science and technology sectors in helping to create the industries of tomorrow.

But Dr Bridge said there needed to be a fundamental review by the Government on regional expenditure.

The region's workforce also had to have higher levels of skills to compete in the future, while better quality transport connections were needed to and from the North-East.

On criticism that One NorthEast was only interested in big, headline making projects, Dr Bridge said the agency was targeting its money at areas of greatest need.

He said: "We have to be careful we don't scatter little bits of money all over the place and in the process lose sight of the bigger picture."

Durham County Councillor John Shuttleworth, who has been critical of One NorthEast efforts to attract jobs to the region - particularly in Weardale following the closure of the former Blue Circle cement plant - said: "Where I am, One NorthEast and Dr John Bridge have clearly not delivered, and Margaret Fay has to.

"We have got to get inward investment into Weardale and want no more of this tinkering around with the commissioning of hugely expensive reports and so on."

* Terry Hodgkinson, 54, managing director of Magna Holdings, who lives in West Yorkshire, is the new chairman of Yorkshire Forward.