A North East regional newspaper has launched an ambitious eight-year to campaign to secure the future of its local economy.

The Teesside Evening Gazette’s Vision 2020 campaigns aims to set out Teesside’s blueprint for success before 2020 and asks readers and local businesses to stand-up and be counted.

A number of private and public sector organisations have already joined forces with the newspaper, and readers are being asked to suggest what should be done to secure the region’s future.

In a leader piece this week business editor Mike Hughes said the Gazette had ‘assembled the most high-profile team possible to plot such an ambitious strategy.’

He wrote: “On one level, it is a challenge to the local authorities in Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, Stockton, Darlington and Hartlepool to work as hard for the whole region as they already do for their individual areas.

“But for the 2020 Vision campaign it goes far, far deeper than that and calls for a commitment from an army of Teessiders willing to stand up and be counted.

“They won’t only be supporting our campaign, they will be creating it and leading it and the Gazette will be proudly taking its place on the front line – just as it has been for almost 150 years.”

The campaign has also been backed by MPs who have set out their top priorities for Teeside’s future, including tackling unemployment, VAT levels and transport links.

Added Mike: “We have never shied away from a challenge and we will be the first to start looking to the future of our region through his campaign.

“On Friday, November 8, 2019 the Evening Gazette will be 150 years old and since our first reader picked up our first edition we have championed Teesside and taken a stand against anything or anyone who stood in the way of the region’s plans for the future. And so it will continue.”