A GROUP of local government officers from Japan will be visiting Middlesbrough tomorrow.

They will meet Mayor Ray Mallon, chief executive Brian Dinsdale and speaker Councillor Ken Hall, at Middlesbrough Town Hall.

The team from the Japan Local Government Centre, in London, will be finding out how Middlesbrough organises its provision of local services.

It will be led by Toru Yamaguchi, of Aomori municipal government, and Saori Shibata, from Kumamoto prefectural government, who are in charge of support for Japanese local authority activities in the UK.

They will be accompanied by Toshihiko Hasegawa, from Shizuoka prefectural government, who is in charge of researching administrative systems in Ireland.

They are all members of the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations, which was set up by the Japanese Ministry of Home Affairs and is based in Tokyo.