MediaVest Manchester board director Nick Cross, is understood to be leaving the agency at the end of March.

Cross was broadcast manager at Advertising Principles, having joined the Leeds-based ad agency in 1987, but left to join MediaVest in 1995. He is one of the industry's most respected practitioners in advertising to children and heads up the media agency's littlemsmallv division.

In separate news, MediaVest has closed its Newcastle operation due to the illness of director Graham Easthorpe. Of late, much of its broadcast work has been handled through the Manchester agency - including the Northern Rock account - and industry sources predict the MediaVest Leeds team will now take responsibility for targeting new business in the north east.