Interview by reporter David Taylor for the Tyne Tees Television Late Look news programme, originally broadcast on 15 February 1967, with George Chetwynd on his new appointment as Deputy Chairman of the Land Commission. Chetwynd was previously the director of the North East Development Council for five years. Taylor asks George Chetwynd about his new job. He replies that at this early stage he knows very little about it as the Commission has just been appointed. He is to be the Deputy...

Interview by reporter David Taylor for the Tyne Tees Television Late Look news programme, originally broadcast on 15 February 1967, with George Chetwynd on his new appointment as Deputy Chairman of the Land Commission. Chetwynd was previously the director of the North East Development Council for five years. Taylor asks George Chetwynd about his new job. He replies that at this early stage he knows very little about it as the Commission has just been appointed. He is to be the Deputy Chairman. The offices will be based in Newcastle, which is good from a regional point of view. He won’t know how it will be tackled until he has had his first meeting with the government. Taylor asks if he played a part in setting up the Land Commission. Chetwynd replies that he has been waging a campaign for the devolution of government offices. Taylor observes that Chetwynd’s long-time assistant Norman King has also left the North East Development Council and asks whether this spells the end of the institution. Chetwynd says that the organisation is just entering a new phase with a different role, more detailed and administrative. Taylor states that Chetwynd’s ‘hot gospeling’ has given the region a psychological boost but asks whether he believed in his own advertising. Chetwynd replies that you don’t do it if you don’t believe it. Taylor says that the unemployment remains above the national average and there is still an annual migration to the south. He asks if these problems are solvable. Chetwynd replies that migration would be higher if not for the North East Development Council. There has been a trickle of people back to the North East but the region needs a lot more new firms. Taylor says that Chetwynd has become a household name over the last few years, like Dan Smith, or bacon and eggs. Does he enjoy this role? Chetwynd says he doesn’t know about the latter, but he has enjoyed it. He is not an extrovert by nature but that it has been a rewarding period in his life and is something he is going to miss. Taylor notes how often Tyne Tees TV have begun news reports with the words “Mr George Chetwynd said today …“ He asks if he is going to feel a bit nostalgic about this. Chetwynd agrees that he is a little nostalgic for the role. He has to be out of the limelight but that he will still be in the North East. He thanks the TV channels for their involvement in the battle for the region. The news had to be put across to the people.