ANOTHER regeneration boss at a North-East development agency is leaving after being headhunted for a job in the South.

Tees Valley Regeneration's head of development Peter James is moving after being offered the top job with the newly-formed Urban Regeneration Company in Swindon.

The job will take him back to the South where is family is based.

His move follows the departure of former investment and marketing director Neil Etherington, who left earlier this year to become chief executive of Redcar Racecourse.

And TVR chairman Peter Middleton also stood down this year to spend more time with his family.

Mr James, who joined Tees Valley Regeneration in 2003, said he was disappointed not to be able to see the Tees Valley projects, which include Middlehaven in Middlesbrough, North Shore in Stockton, and Central Park in Darlington, through to the end.

"I would have liked to remain at Tees Valley Regeneration for at least another year.

"However, this particular opportunity at Swindon was, for a number of reasons, difficult to refuse," he said.

Tees Valley Regeneration will now seek to find a replacement for Mr James, who leaves in October.

Chief executive Joe Docherty said: "We expect to announce the name of a new chairman later this year.

"Regeneration is big business in the UK and it is only to be expected that people will come and go.

"We deliberately set about building a great team in the full knowledge that when you employ top people others will try to lure them away."

In April, TVR, the body set up to revitalise the area, was cleared of maladministration following an investigation by Government officials, after Stockton North MP Frank Cook raised concerns.

Mr James stressed that his and Mr Etherington's departure were in no way connected with this.