I am proud to have been chairman of the Teesside Development Corporation. I was appointed by the government of the day and asked to break the mould of bureaucratic local government and to get things done for Teesside.

I have been criticised by a subsequent government, which now complains because I broke the mould and because I did not act in sufficiently bureaucratic a manner.

It seems to me that the people of Teesside do not care a jot for the niceties of bureaucracy. They are interested in whether the quality of their life has been improved.

In a survey of Merseyside, Tyneside and Teesside in The Times in the late 1980s, the first two areas were considered to have reasonable prospects of economic recovery, but Teesside was written off.

There could be no recovery towards a mixed economy from the job losses in ship building, steel making and chemicals.

How wrong The Times was.

Teesside today is a confident, vibrant region with better prospects than before. I believe that the TDC played a significant part in bringing this about.

Initially, it was difficult to attract private investment into Teesside (there had been practically none for the previous 20 years). We managed to get a developer and contractor to start the Teesside Leisure and Retail Park, but halfway through the developer was facing receivership.

We moved in and took over the leases from the developer, gave guarantees to the contractor and, in the end, without spending a penny of taxpayers' money, made £20m profit.

We used this money to build the first stage of what is now the University of Durham, Queen's Campus, Stockton. That's breaking the mould.

At the end of its time, the TDC gave some land to the Durham Campus for their future growth. We have been criticised for not selling it at full commercial value. Critics ignore the fact that full value would have stymied university expansion. But then, there are those that act in belief of "Education, Education, Education", and those who just talk.

Without doubt, the people of Hartlepool give credit to the TDC for improvements to their town. The Hartlepool Docks had been an area of dereliction since the catastrophic closure of Gray's Shipyard in 1963. For 30 years, Hartlepool Borough Council had sought Government support for the redevelopment of the docks, in vain.

The TDC spent significantly, not only on the redevelopment of the docks, but also in the strengthening of the sea defences.

The Hartlepool Historic Quay, inspired by the restored and resplendent HMS Trincomalee, is recognised as one of the finest urban redevelopments in the country. We are criticised for passing the Historic Quay to Hartlepool council, instead of auctioning it on the market. Who do you think will take the greatest care of the quay and manage it in the best interests of the people of Hartlepool?

There has been recent criticism of a personal nature against the TDC chief executive, Duncan Hall. I can say categorically that from the day of his appointment to the present day, Mr Hall has always enjoyed the respect of every member of the board.

The board was made up of leading local politicians, a noted national politician and leading businessmen and women. These men and women, from a wide range of backgrounds, worked closely with Mr Hall for many years.

They learnt to admire him for his dedication to the service of Teesside and they encouraged him to be innovative. It is a travesty that a man who has worked so hard and who has given so much, without the slightest suspicion of personal benefit, should be treated so badly by some of the politicians of the area. How do their achievements for Teesside compare with his achievements?

When I look back, I see much to be proud of, but I also remember the disappointments. How much we wanted to redevelop Middlesbrough Dock with the same flair and success as we had achieved at Hartlepool. Relocating the Middlesbrough Football Stadium was a good start and we had great support from Middlesbrough Council. We were blocked by the then Langbaurgh Borough Council.

The TDC is now criticised for fighting for the development with its last breath. I am proud that we fought - after all, we regarded ourselves, first and foremost, as servants of Teesside.

Many of the items of criticism levelled against us arise because we did indeed put Teesside first, and certainly we often put Teesside before bureaucratic considerations.

But that is what the government originally put me there for and no subsequent Secretary of State asked me to do otherwise.