Sarah Gibb, of Tees Forest, said: "It has been designed as a communityforest, and this is a fantastic way of getting people involved. Hopefully,they will come back time and time again to see the trees growing as theyears go by."

BT media relations manager Francis King said: "We wanted the prize to go toa strong environmental project and this fits the bill perfectly. The factthat it is also commemorating the work of the 14 journalists makes it evenmore worthwhile."

Regading the Have a Heart Campaign, Northern Echo editor Peter Barron said: "There is no need for Britain to have a second-rate health service, particularly as we have the fourth largest economy in the world. There is no need for British people to die.

"All that is required is the political will and the additional investment."

"But the £17m for South Cleveland is only the start. There are now 50 people who have been waiting more than a year to be treated at the hospital, which means that since we started our campaign, the situation has worsened," he added.

Additional facilities at the heart unit will include an extra operating theatre, catheter lab, six high dependency beds, four cardiac intensive care beds and 50 inpatient beds.

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