A North East Mayoral Development Corporation will be created to bring our employment and housing sites to life. It will champion business acting as a gateway to investors and push our region’s talent and capability to a global audience. It will have a key role in delivering our economic plan for the region.
Alongside the Mayoral Combined Authority, it will identify key studies that we need to build the case for investment from the public, private and third sector.
It will involve our local councils, major employers, representatives from small and medium size enterprises and the regions universities and colleges.
Our Coast & Rivers
Our metropolitan belt sits on our two great rivers that have been the life blood of our region for centuries.
There is a huge opportunity in offshore renewable energy, oil & gas decommissioning, and other marine based industries.
Working with site owners and the Government I will break down the barriers to markets for sites up and down the Tyne, Wear and Blyth rivers. Where needed I will intervene directly through Mayoral Development Zones including land acquisition and planning powers to bring sites to life. I will not tolerate people seeking to obstruct progress sought on behalf of our people and will use compulsory purchase powers where necessary to achieve our objectives.
Whilst the rivers are the catalyst for the growth in these sectors our current economy has shown that there is major opportunity across all our communities for the wider ecosystem connected to these industries to grow and flourish. I will seek to promote and assist all such businesses through targeted support.
I will seek to deploy Investment Zones and lobby for free port status for land holdings where this will bring more jobs and investment.
Key actions
- Work with the National Grid to remove overhead electricity cables over the River Tyne, which restricts the size of vessels able to use the river.
- Work with our 3 major ports to ensure proper, environmentally friendly river dredging.
- Work with key stakeholders, land owners and councils to identify barriers to development and growth, where necessary taking land into public ownership.
- Create a development zone capturing large areas of our river sites to speed up growth. This will include use of Local Development Orders where appropriate.
- Create a single point of contact with support team working with the 7 local authorities to provide a compelling international offer in offshore/marine industry providing a show case for growing businesses.
Our existing jobs hubs.
The Mayoral Development Corporation will undertake an immediate assessment of all key employment sites across the region. Where sites need investment to facilitate growth this will be brought forward at pace.
The Mayoral Development Corporation will aggressively market all available employment land to a local, national, and international audience working closely with local authorities and government.
Many of our existing employment centers are performing well and will receive support and encouragement from the Mayoral Development Corporation as required. We want these centers to expand and thrive.
CASE STUDY: The Metro Centre once an engine of economic activity has taken a knock from the move to online retail. There is an opportunity to revitalize the site making it the center of a vibrant community, well connected to the wider metropolitan area, once more a destination that brings people to the region from across the UK. We will seek early engagement with interested parties and the LPA to work up a plan for the areas improvement and support investment in the site and its surroundings.
The Mayoral Development Corporation will work with government to build on the North of Tyne High Streets and Town Centre investment and the government’s High Street Fund and Town Deals. This deal seeks to set the basis for levelling up our towns, market towns, high streets and coastal communities in areas like Ashington, Gateshead, Houghton le Spring, Hebburn, Jarrow, North Shields and Wallsend in line with the constituent authorities’ priorities. Housing delivery will also be the catalyst for the levelling up and regeneration of a number of former mining villages in East Durham including Horden and Easington Colliery.
Key sectors and clusters
Where necessary we will make interventions to boost existing and future economic clusters, providing incentives for locating in targeted sites.
Automotive and Advanced Manufacturing. The North East is a globally significant region for advanced manufacturing, home to the UK’s largest car plant, three of the UK’s top five off-highway manufacturers and an internationally competitive supply chain. We have specialisms in automotive manufacturing, rail, aerospace, electronics, pharmaceuticals and subsea engineering, plus a well-connected supply chain.
Electrification is a key part of the Government’s plan to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to Net Zero by 2050 and this represents a huge opportunity for the North East of England. I will encourage additional car and battery manufacturing to the region including to the International Advanced Manufacturing Park in Sunderland, the Northumberland Energy Park and Aycliffe Business Park.
Digital. The North East is well placed to take advantage of the next industrial revolution, Artificial Intelligence. We sit on the national and international fibre optic cable network and have access to cheap offshore energy required by the next generation of data centers to allow for the computing power necessary to power up the AI revolution. I will seek to facilitate a multibillion-pound investment in data centres across the region, bringing with them direct and indirect jobs. North East England is already paving the way for future advancements in digital technology that will benefit all of society. In 2021, Newcastle was ranked the smartest city in the UK, and above Hong Kong, San Francisco and Dublin in the Smart City Index. I will turbocharge that growth and make the North East the No.1 region for tech investment in the U.K.
Pharmaceutical & Life Sciences. The North East is a one stop shop for life sciences. Our science parks Newcastle Helix and NETPark are centres of excellence for R&D combined with our world class universities. We need more work to translate that research and development expertise into growth of the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector.
Passionate People, Passionate Places. I will relaunch the ‘Passionate People, Passionate Places’ campaign to celebrate the best of the North East to tell the story of our region projecting a confident image, rooted in our history but excited for the future. I will project this image nationally and on the world stage.
I will showcase our traditional attractions like Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian’s Wall, Durham Cathedral and Beamish Museum. But I will also look to new opportunities to grow the urban visitor economy such as the new Gateshead Conference Centre. As Mayor I will lobby the Conservative Party to lead by example and hold our own party conference in the region bringing £20m to the visitor economy.
We will commission a tourism strategy on a regional level to understand the visitor economy better, identifying how we can get people to spend more money whilst in the region and using it to provide a compelling case for investment into hospitality businesses.
However, as a councilor on the Northumberland Coast, I know that over-tourism can hurt local communities. My tourism strategy will look at the overall impact of tourism on the environment and communities and where tourism growth is deemed no longer sustainable, I will direct promotion of destinations elsewhere in the North East. I will not repeat the mistakes of parts of Cornwall, the Lake District or the Highlands and Islands of Scotland with an overreliance on tourism, unaffordable housing, and winter ghost towns.
Sport. Sport plays a huge role in our society and economy. Football, rugby, racing, running, international golf amongst others all have clubs and hubs across the North East.
Our football clubs are internationally renowned.
Newcastle United are destined to play regular European football whilst Sunderland AFC seems destined to return to the Premier League.
I will seek early meetings with the owners of Newcastle United and Sunderland AFC to understand their redevelopment plans and make sure we maximize the amount they invest and that the offer ties in with our objectives for the region.
I will act as a bridge between the football clubs and the hospitality sector in the region, to make sure any investment is complimentary to each other and encourage joined up thinking.
Reaching Across the Border
I will target investment from Scottish Businesses, many of whom are actively looking to relocate to the North East to escape the SNP Government and their regressive tax regime.
The North East will promote a program to welcome Scottish professionals.
Oil, gas and offshore renewable energy companies are strong sectors off the east coast of Scotland I will target to bring to the North East
Our Rural Economy
I come from a farming family and studied agriculture at Newcastle University. I know devolution is a major opportunity for our rural economy to grow and thrive, and has the power to influence our countryside for generations.
The devolution deal acknowledges the unique and complex rural environment in the North East. Acting as a rural exemplar is already at the heart of the North of Tyne Devolution Deal and the North East would expect to work with the government on opportunities to expand this into a wider area.
In the deal the government and the mayor commit to the development of a clear joint plan for rural growth, stewardship and net zero. A Rural Growth and Stewardship Board will be chaired by Northumberland County Council and driven by Northumberland, Gateshead and County Durham Councils, DEFRA and its arms-length agencies.
Food production must be at the heart of any plan produced by my combined authority. The U.K has a growing population in an increasingly uncertain world where the foreign supply of food cannot allows be guaranteed and the price of agricultural commodities like wheat, barley and oilseed rape is increasingly volatile.
Innovation in agriculture will be key. Newcastle University is already a world leader in the sector with two of its own farms and the world’s oldest continuous grassland experiment which began in 1896. I will champion the regions educational facilities ensuring that our rural communities have the skills and knowledge to lead the world.
Following our departure from the EU, new subsidy and environmental schemes are constantly evolving. Additionally, there are significant rewards for farmers and land managers who are able to use their natural capital to help developers who are now required to deliver a Biodiversity Net Gain of 10%. This means a new property development will result in more or better-quality natural habitat than there was before development.
Working with the NFU and existing farm advisory services, I will establish an advice and brokerage service to help land managers navigate this new landscape and take advantage of new opportunities. For example, the service could connect a land manager in County Durham to a developer in North Tyneside to sell off-site biodiversity units.
This is a potentially major source of funds for the North East in terms of inward investment and cash flow but if done incorrectly we could see the money leave the region. The brokerage service would only accept individuals and businesses that pursue a means of biodiversity net gain that will not damage rural communities will not take productive land out of use.
