A £6M partnership deal is set to speed up Teesside airport's South Side development and help transform its terminal building.

The five-year partnership agreement with the regional development agency One North-East will include a major feasibility study, assessing how the airport should prepare for the next 30 years. Infrastructure, such as the apron and taxiway areas, will also benefit.

Mr Hugh Lang, the airport's managing director, told the D&S Times the airport management and developers, Moorfield, were holding final discussion on how to take the project forward.

He stressed that a multi-million pound cargo centre - said at a public inquiry to be capable of bringing 6,000 new jobs to the region - was not realistic.

The £340m scheme was given special treatment by the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr John Prescott, in 1999, overturning a public inquiry decision.

In Mr Lang's view, the proposed freight centre was not the be-all and end-all of the development, which had always been earmarked for aviation-related activities.

"There is not going to be 750,000 tonnes of freight in ten years' time," he warned its supporters. "I may be saying things people don't want to hear, but that is the stark reality.

"It may not be what local people think, but if I told those in the industry this is going to be a European air freight hub, they would say that is ridiculous. I am trying to set the record straight."

He said the common agreement between One North-East, Tees Valley Partnership and other agencies about the airport's role in promoting the economy of the region was the most important part of Monday's announcement.

He wanted to create "a sense of arrival" for passengers at the airport which would involve putting in a new access to the terminal and revamping its present low key frontage.

"It is quite disappointing at the moment," he added.

While work on access to the South Side development could start quite soon, it was likely to be October before the terminal front could be refurbished.

l Managers at Newcastle airport are celebrating the fact that shareholders have sold 49pc of their interest to Copenhagen airport.

The Danish company will pay a total of £194.95m to the seven local authorities which own the airport. That includes Durham County Council, which also retains an interest in Teesside.

l Leading article: page 20