North Population to Fall, Says Report

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Byline: By Zoe Hughes Political Editor

The need to build 170,000 houses in the North-East was thrown into doubt last night after official figures suggested that the region's population would decline by more than 50,000 over the next 25 years.

As council and business leaders all plan for a rise in the number of people moving to the region, the government's own statistics office has warned that the population will decline by 2pc up to 2028 ( with most people deserting big towns and cities.

The Office for National Statistics yesterday said the number of people living in the North-East was expected to move against national trends and drop by 50,300 in the next …