WHAT would happen if The Louvre agreed to lend Middlesbrough the Mona Lisa?

I suspect the area would enjoy a Renaissance to match that of Tuscany 500 years ago. Millions would flock to the Tees Valley, every hotel and restaurant would be booked up and the T-shirts would fly off the shelves.

The effect would be the same if the town was home to a pyramid built by a travelling Pharoah several millennia ago, or an Anglo Arc de Triomphe.

The reality is that we have not been so fortunate as to have such a moneyspinner fall in to our lap.

The history of the Tees Valley is one of hard slog providing the power and steel to build a nation and the chemicals to feed the crops and cure our ills.

We have some wonderful architecture and some genuine icons, like the Transporter Bridge, but nothing of such national fame as Cornwall's Eden or Buckingham Palace that will persuade strangers to visit in their droves.

For towns and cities to survive they have to attract visitors to spend money. This finances the expansion of businesses and encourages others to set up. As a result, the population does not have to move away to find work. Your town has to be a destination, a draw, and if the founding fathers haven't left you a Mona Lisa or a pyramid, then it's up to local leaders to make one.

And so we come to Middlehaven. A 250-acre swathe of prime development land alongside Middlesbrough town centre.

It would be easy, very easy, to fill it with box-shaped hotels, box-shaped offices and box-shaped houses - but why would anyone want to go there? You can see boxes anywhere in Britain. But, nowhere in Britain will you find apartments in the shape of Marge Simpson's hair, a champagne flute hotel or a theatre that looks like a toaster.

Imagine a permanent wave where you can surf all day, an urban wetland complete with thermal pools and sophisticated bars that would boggle the eyes of everyone from James Bond to the Sex And The City girls.

By unveiling a masterplan the like of which has never been seen anywhere before, Tees Valley Regeneration and Middlesbrough Council have sent out a clear message to the developers of the world.

If you want to build a lasting legacy then you can do it on Teesside; if you want to be bog standard then go elsewhere.

Every year millions of people travel north to see Durham Cathedral or Hadrian's Wall, or south to see York Minster. We want them to take a detour along the A66 and spend a day viewing a modern-day wonder.

We want young people to be awestruck at what they see and eagerly tell their jealous friends of the wonders of Middlehaven.

The whole of the region will benefit from our success and should be supportive; we have enough critics outside the area without shooting ourselves in the foot.

Remember, all these developers flocking to Middlehaven might also take a look at other parts of the North-East and our visitors might take time out to spend an afternoon at Darlington's Railway Museum, Redcar beach or Sedgefield races.

So before you knock our ambition, think of an alternative because, so far, no-one has come up with a viable one.

Published: 23/07/2004