Stephen Patterson is the Chief Executive of NE1 Ltd, the Business Improvement District company for Newcastle city centre, which represents the interests of 1,400 businesses. Stephen discusses the need for more investment in the region's transport network and calls on businesses to back the plan to reopen the Leamside Line railway route to provide critical connections to towns and cities across the region.
Transport and access links into, out of, and around any city are crucial for continued growth and success. Good transport links have direct benefits for the health and wellbeing of a city’s residents, businesses and visitors as well as for the environment and overall economy.
As Newcastle enjoys what is a ‘once in a generation’ renaissance with multi-million pound investment across the city, our transport system can’t be left behind.
Our city is changing before our very eyes. Development is happening at a rate of knots across the city centre including the striking redevelopment of East Pilgrim Street, the investment in the Quayside with its new arena and conference centre, and plans for c.10,000 new homes on the Gateshead and Newcastle banks of the river. Ambitious transport plans are needed to match this investment. Transport capacity has to expand to accommodate the estimated one million additional visitors a year which the city expects by 2025, the new workers and residents who will occupy the new buildings, and to improve connectivity with outlying towns and cities.
People need to be able to take advantage of all the opportunities that this growth will create by matching this investment with improvements in public transport. As the regional capital of the north east, Newcastle needs to plan strategically to ensure that the city’s growth benefits the whole region.
Transport for the North have got off to a great start with the North East Rail and Metro Strategy, including plans to reopen the Leamside Line, a disused 21-mile long passenger and freight railway line which runs from Gateshead to County Durham. If realised, the plans would see the line reinstated and connectivity improved across the region, starting with a Metro extension and a new Metro connection from Pelaw to South Hylton via Washington, which is being called the ‘Washington Metro Loop’.
NE1 fully endorses this plan and has written to Government in support of Transport North East’s bids for funding to further develop the plans and business case.
At its heart, this is a pragmatic and practical plan, that will deliver for the region and help people access economic and employment opportunities along the route. The economic impact from expanding and improving this rail link is clear, quantifiable and deliverable; £90 million economic boost to the region and eight million additional passenger journeys each year.
This is not starting from scratch. The Leamside Line, albeit mothballed, is already there and if reinstated would link the south of the region to Newcastle city centre. The line wasn’t decommissioned until the 1990s but started its decline in the ’60s when the whole of Great Britain’s local rail network was reshaped as part of a major transport review, known as the Beeching Report. The line continued to be used to take the strain off the East Coast mainline until the ’90s but electrification accelerated its demise.
Reinstating the line would deliver a ‘step change in connectivity’ for residents in Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland. Access to jobs, education, services and other opportunities would all improve if the line is brought back into use.
We all recognise that improvements need to be made to make travelling around the north east quicker and easier.
As early as next year, the region should see the opening of the 18- mile long Northumberland line for passengers. This line will provide regular, and more convenient rail services between Ashington and Newcastle, with 6 new stations built along the route and halving the travel time between Ashington and Newcastle.
As Newcastle grows and continues to thrive, we need communities across the whole of the region to be able to connect with the jobs, education and opportunities that will be created in the city, and we can only do this by investing in and improving our regional transport connections.
And, the focus is not just on passenger transport, these lines will also carry freight, helping take the strain off the region’s busy arterial roads and removing unnecessary HGV journeys that would otherwise be made by road.
The plans for the Leamside and Northumberland Lines make a huge amount of sense, connecting the north and south of the region and all the communities along the way. These plans demonstrate that the region knows what’s needed and is forging ahead, developing its own plans to create additional transport capacity, shaping our own destiny and agenda for growth and opportunity. Rightly, these plans should be celebrated and supported.