MINISTERS will next week be asked to act urgently to help cities such as Newcastle return to economic growth.

Cities’ minister Greg Clark will hear again the case for new powers when he appears at the launch of the Centre for Cities’ annual report on Monday.

Putting forward the case for Newcastle will be council leader Nick Forbes, who has already held detailed talks with the minister, along with Gateshead Council leader Mick Henry.

Mr Forbes will present his case after seeing the results of the think tank’s latest look at how England’s biggest cities are performing in the face of Government spending cuts.

In order to tackle rising unemployment and grow the regional economy, Tyneside has put together a bid for cash borrowing powers, in which money to build new shopping centres and offices is paid back by the business rates of those using them.

The scheme has already being described by Mr Clark as the most impressive of all those bidding for Accelerated Development Zone status, as the Treasury call such bids.

Officers at Newcastle say that by using tax incremental financing they will pay for £150m worth of “critical infrastructure” in Newcastle and Gateshead. This, they say, will “unlock” key developments such as East Pilgrim Street and create more than 1,000 temporary construction jobs, around 17,000 permanent, mainly knowledge-intensive jobs and an annual uplift to the economy of £700m.

Mr Forbes has said that his administration is prepared take on the accountability and risk of such a scheme, and in return, Government needs to allow the city to move forward without delay and provide the funding powers needed for the long-term investment.

He said: “This is crucially important to enable us to act with urgency to create the economic stimulus we need to get some of the 13,400 unemployed people in Newcastle back into work.” Mr Forbes added: “Everyone knows the impact that the cuts have had on our city.

“What we have to do is show we have confidence in the city and convince ministers that we can be trusted with the borrowing powers needed to rebuilt our economy.

“It is clear that successful cities will be those cities with a clear view on how they are going to shape their future and the knowledge economy is obviously going to play a big part in Newcastle’s future economy.

“What we must do now is see handed over from government as soon as possible the tax incremental financing powers that will underpin that long-term growth and in the short-term create hundreds more construction jobs.”