PORTS Minister Stephen Ladyman will be urged to fast-track a decision on £300m plans to expand Teesport at a meeting this month.

Campaigners will meet Mr Ladyman on Thursday, July 21, to press the case for building a deep-sea container terminal to bring in freight from the Far East and elsewhere.

The development could create 7,000 jobs, including up to 4,000 in the supply chain and 3,000 at six distribution centres at Teesport.

The campaign suffered a blow last week when Mr Ladyman rejected calls to publish a National Ports Strategy before the go-ahead is given to expand any Southern port.

The decision raised fears that Felixstowe, Harwich and London could be allowed to grow before he can consider Teesport's plans.

Campaigners are demanding that Teesport's application is given the same priority, without awaiting completion of the overall ports strategy, which could be next year.

Vera Baird, Labour MP for Redcar, said: "We will be stressing to Mr Ladyman that Teesport's harbour revision order will be with him very soon and stressing the importance of it. What we want to avoid, now that the strategy will not delay decisions on the Southern ports, is to make sure it will not mean that Teesport has to wait for a decision."

PD Ports, Teesport's parent company, has argued its expansion would take millions of lorry miles off the roads, and help close a £29bn economic gap with the South.

But it said its plans could be set back by more than a decade if the Southern ports expand.

Ms Baird will be joined by other Teesside MPs and Martyn Pellew, PD Ports group's development director, at the meeting on July 21.