MINISTERS have dealt a hammer blow to North East jobs hopes by declaring £130m of publicly owned land and assets cannot be used to kick start the regional economy.

Business minister Mark Prisk has ruled cash generated from the sale of any assets owned by the former regional development agency One North East must be handed over to a national pot rather than be used to help local projects.

The “firesale” of sites such as business parks and office space comes despite London’s Conservative mayor Boris Johnson being told he can do as he wishes with the capital’s assets base, at no cost to the Greater London Authority.

One North East built up a £130m property empire which accounts for nearly half of the £300m development agency assets Mr Prisk has identified for sale nationwide.

These will now be handed over to national regeneration quango the Homes and Communities Agency, headed up by former One North East assistant chief executive Pat Ritchie.

Last night former Newcastle Council leader Lord Beecham said the decision raised once again the question of what regional support the Government could offer.

Lord Beecham, a senior adviser on local government for the Labour party, said: “We can see there is no regional strategy from this Government, we have seen that in the disadvantages to the region from the Growing Places fund, the way we lost out to the South in the New Homes Bonus and now here in the way we are denied the best possible benefits from these assets.”

The assets decision was revealed in a letter from Mr Prisk outlining the latest changes.

An asset empire built up by the agency to help create jobs include the former Durham ice rink, the site of the former Westgate House in Newcastle city centre and land linked to the wind power testing facilities at Blyth Quayside.

Many items have been in regional hands for over a decade, with some believed to have passed on to the development agency from council organisations.