LORD Heseltine said there were an extra 4,000 people in work in the Tees Valley more than a year on from the closure of SSI’s Redcar steel plant.

He also claimed that the Government’s record in supporting the local economy was “immensely impressive”.

Asked by The Northern Echo whether it was a worry that a lot of the replacement jobs were not highly skilled, the 83-year-old said: “Of course it is a worry, but can you produce the figures to show that is true?

“When I was here before the whole climate understandably was all about the steel industry and yesterday’s manufacturing base.

“I started wandering around the Tees Valley and found a totally different economy that wasn’t in crisis and was creating high power jobs.”

Lord Heseltine, who was introduced at the event at Darlington’s Blackwell Grange hotel as a “pioneer of urban regeneration” and a “true friend” of the Tees Valley, said SSI’s closure was a social and economic tragedy which cast an incredible cloud.

He said there was now a Government company run by locally appointed directors in charge of renewing the derelict site, part of a five mile stretch on the South bank of the Tees he identified for development.

He said: “I know a lot about what is going on and it is commercially sensitive.

“But there is a new sense of optimism in the dialogue that is taking place. The framework and the people involved are totally different.”