THE Tees Valley mayor is spending £5.8m on road improvements with hopes of attracting a “significant” investment in the region.

Mayor Ben Houchen said he has received a formal approach by an international company regarding a “significant investment opportunity”.

The company and specific location of the development cannot be revealed at present due to a strict non-disclosure agreement, he added.

The decision was approved by the Tees Valley Combined Authority cabinet on Friday.

The authority said the work was being done on existing roads but would not disclose which ones. It is likely to start next year.

The site, in the Stockton area, could be built and operational before September 2022, creating as many as 3,000 jobs.

Mr Houchen has agreed to release £5.8m for road improvements, which he says are needed to secure the investment.

Mr Houchen said: “My plan for the economic recovery of Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool following the coronavirus pandemic is a plan for jobs – creating good quality high skilled local jobs for local people.

“This investment opportunity would do exactly that – creating as many as 3,000 jobs, which is why I have agreed to invest this money on road improvements so we can open the door to this huge development coming to the region.”

The interchange has already been identified as a capacity constraint by Highways England.

The improvement work is part of a wider bid for Department for Transport funding, with an outline business case due to be submitted in January 2021.

Mr Houchen added: “The last few months have been extremely difficult for everyone but we are on the comeback. We will make our region bigger, better and stronger than ever before by creating jobs for local people in not only high skilled areas, but in the industries of the future.”