We meet many new faces, new councillors, chief executives, MPs, campaigners, the fun never stops.

Over the last two years, in the build-up to the General Election and the formation of the coalition, there has been one surefire way of breaking the ice when meeting an unfamiliar face.

"That Eric Pickles, hey?" Such a move is met with nervous laughter, or occasionally a scowl.

Since taking over what has been dubbed the Department For Cuts in Local Government, Mr Pickles has become public enemy number one in the region.

Council leaders queued up to attack him, mention of his name in the chamber was guaranteed to unite both sides in condemning "the worst secretary of state we have ever had".

The Journal even got involved, in our hopefully infamous "We've been Pickled" front page in which the minister's head was pictured in a jar of pickled onions.

So, it is odd then that, cuts aside, Mr Pickles may end up as the head of the one department which offers real benefits to the region.

Yes, he reduced council spending by millions of pounds, prompting thousands of job losses. And he was the driving force in closing down the regional development agencies.

He forced on to us the Local Enterprise Partnerships of business and council leaders and blocked hopes of uniting as one regional body.

But in doing so he has forced through the first signs of handing back actual influence and power to local authorities.

In the North East, where Labour councils have been more than happy to accept central government orders provided they came with handfuls of cash, he faced a fight.

I'm told that when council leaders got together to argue over whether the North East should have one local enterprise partnership, the region's token Tory, Linda Arkley, would sit back and "let the boys argue", pretending to check her nails while Labour heavyweights questioned why businesses should have any say in the region.

When she grew fed up with the level of opposition, she neatly predicted the situation we now have, two local enterprise partnerships. Asked who says that was the best way forward, she simply told them "Eric Pickles."

In essence, the North East had to be forced to start a process which will eventually, hopefully, see it handed back economic powers.

Mr Pickles has a few more tricks up his sleeve. His changes to business rates may, it is feared, short change some councils, but he has promised to help those who lose out while giving a local tax base to stimulate growth.

His ministers are speeding up new borrowing powers, like those the Scottish currently enjoy, that will allow regeneration projects to be aid for by the very businesses which use them.

There's even talk of letting councils issue bonds.

If he keeps up at this rate the North East finally get what John Prescott wanted to hand the region with his regional assembly - the autonomy and the money needed to succeed.

Where else can the North look for such help? The Department for Transport doesn't want to bring new railway lines to the region, let alone money to solve the backlog of infrastructure projects in need of help.

The Department for Business gave us an enterprise zone and promised its regional growth fund would see businesses grow. Sceptics have questioned whether either will create new jobs, rather than just making it easier for firms to carry out growth plans they were going to introduce anyway.

The Department for Education is taking £30m from the region to fund academies in the south, the Treasury is looking to hand Scotland a major economic advantage in lower tax rates. Nick Clegg only comes here secretly these days.

So, like him or loathe him, Mr Pickles may be the bandit-turned-saviour the region needs most.