‘LIVING from day to day” is an expression we hear a lot as thousands of families have their expectations about jobs, living standards and security hit by the recession.

Like the people they serve, councils have had to cope with harsh realities too. My Middlesbrough, for example, faces budget cuts of £73m over five years.

In times like these, organisations, like people, concentrate on the here and now, getting through the next day, month or year in one piece. You can’t think about where you want to be in five or ten years when there’s no money in the bank at the end of the month.

But councils can’t forget about the longterm.

The towns and communities we represent, the industries and businesses that we rely on for jobs and prosperity, the services we all depend on will still be here – maybe looking very different – in ten, 50 or even 100 years. So we can’t lose sight of the need for long-term investment and development of our region, which is why the Government’s City Deal is critical to the future of all the towns of the Tees Valley.

The City Deal programme has its critics, but for the moment it is the only game in town, and the Tees Valley is playing to win.

Success in our bid to win a City Deal should mean that our industries, businesses and local authorities – working in partnership – will get control of more government cash and will be allowed more freedom to get on with things, with less government interference.

City Deals will be delivered by the Local Enterprise Partnerships and the one we have established in the Tees Valley has a clear idea of our current strengths and future opportunities.

Chemical processing, renewable energy and digital technology will be the pillars of Teesside’s future prosperity and it is these sectors that we need to champion in national and international markets.

We are one step ahead of the game. Important as our links to the rest of the North-East are, we didn’t want the Tees Valley’s unique economic “offer” swallowed up in a regional partnership. We persuaded the Government that the Tees Valley had sufficient clout and commitment to merit its own organisation.

That, in turn, has led to the creation of 12 enterprise zones where firms get discounted business rates and capital allowances to help them grow.

But we have to stay ahead. We need to expand the zones and the benefits they offer and to use the economic freedoms of City Deal to re-invest in the Tees Valley economy and infrastructure, to grow local businesses and attract new ones.

For years, our area has excelled in creating products and prosperity for other parts of the country. We now have a chance to be an importer of people and wealth so that future generations can enjoy the prosperity that has so far eluded us.

But economic success ultimately depends on decent public services. If the money generated by City Deal is used not on essential infrastructure and re-skilling projects, but instead to plug the hole left by chronic underfunding, we will be back in the starting blocks in the race for prosperity.

The Government has said it wants to give local councils and business organisations the freedom to shape their own destiny. I want to believe it.

But if that freedom turns out to be nothing more than the right to manage decline, it will count as the biggest lost opportunity in living memory.