AN MP is calling for the Tees Valley to go it alone with its own enterprise partnership.

The Government is poised to replace regional development agencies, including One North East and Yorkshire Forward from 2012, with local enterprise partnerships.

The Northern Echo understands that Tees Valley - – covering the boroughs of Hartlepool, Stockton, Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland – will be one of the Government’s first new Local Enterprise Partnerships, with the door left open for Darlington to join.

Middlesbrough MP Sir Stuart Bell said, if instituted, the partnership would reinforce the Teesside identity and enable it to bid for money from a £1bn growth fund.

He said: “It is important that Teesside reinforces its identity and that it regains its industrial pre-eminence in the development of new technologies, building on its work ethic, its industrial heritage and geographical area.”

Sir Stuart is writing to representatives from all four boroughs and the North East Chamber of Commerce, urging them to support a Teesside local enterprise partnership when responding to Government ministers.

He has also written to the five other Teesside MPs inviting them to endorse a local partnership.

“We must take up the challenge the Government has laid down for our region,”

he said.

“If a consensus can be reached, a conference can be held in the autumn under the auspices of Teesside University.”

The Government is supporting local enterprise partnerships and has written to local authorities and business leaders inviting them to submit proposals by September 6.

Sunderland City Councillor Paul Watson, chairman of The Association of North-East Councils, said the region would still need an organisation to keep large-scale investment on a regional footing.

The association and the Northern Business Forum are reported to have put together a request to Government for an all-embracing regional enterprise partnership.