Sir, – When the Coalition government was formed in 2010 we were promised an economy where 'prosperity is shared among all sections of society and all parts of the country'. I believed that.

Now, as we approach another general election, the promises have begun again. Recently there has been talk of a 'Northern Powerhouse' and, only days ago, plans to 'revolutionise travel in the north'. Sorry, because of the events detailed below, I am no longer a believer.

During 2013 I became concerned at the apparent inequality of public funding allocated to the regions. The imbalance was such that I wrote to William Hague in October 2013 and so began a prolonged exchange of correspondence, which concluded a few days ago.

From the beginning Mr Hague chose to act only as a postbox. He passed my letters to Eric Pickles, Minister for Communities and Local Government, then forwarded Mr Pickle’s responses to me. My concerns were based upon official figures, such as the Growing Places Fund which targeted infrastructure investment and awarded £255 million to London/SouthEast and £4 million to the North-East. Transport spending stood at 45 per cent for London/SouthEast and 4 per cent for the North-East and the National Infrastructure Plan 2013 allocated £64 billion to southern England and £23 billion to remaining regions

It is significant that in each of these allocations the North-East received the least regional funding.

On deciding to raise the matter with Mr Hague I genuinely had high expectations that the matter would receive the consideration it deserved. Over 14 months I wrote four letters, eleven reminders and was astounded by the delays in replying. It took Mr Hague seven weeks to respond to each of my first two letters, nine weeks for the third and 21 weeks for the final one. During all that time neither cabinet minister expressed any concern over the funding position and many of my questions were simply ignored.

So, in January 2015, I abandoned further contact with Mr Pickles but did then ask Mr Hague why he had not been more directly, and why he failed to support my submissions. Eight weeks and four letters later he now declares that there was no need for him to do either.

So, what do you think? Have these two ministers acted in the best interests of our region? Has their approach been fair-minded?

I was poised to pick up my pen again but, hey ho, we can always look forward to the extra eight miles of A1 dual carriageway promised for Northumberland - and then struggle through the remaining 25 miles of single carriageway. It was ever thus.

K ELLIOTT

Meadowfield, Stokesley.