Region given £350,000 to make case to reopen line

THE North East has been given new funding to push forward plans to reopen the mothballed Leamside railway line.

A restoration of the disused route, which runs from Pelaw in Gateshead to Tursdale in County Durham, is a top priority for the region’s leaders and has been at the centre of a political storm in recent months. The Leamside Line was initially included among pledges the Government made under Rishi Sunak’s Network North transport programme announced after the scrapping of HS2’S northern leg in October.

But that promise was dropped within 24 hours and the Department for Transport (DFT) subsequently said the project “could” be part-funded by funding given to the incoming North East mayor. MPS, council chiefs, business leaders, and local transport officials have since been pressing the case for the project, likely to cost well over £1bn.

And the Government has now confirmed that, for the first time, it will be giving some money to the scheme – albeit a relatively small amount – to help with the early stage of the proposals’ development. The region has been awarded £350,000 to progress a new “strategic outline case” for the southern section of the line, from Washington to Ferryhill.

The work was described by Transport North East yesterday as a “pivotal part of the process required to re-open the line”. The plans will run alongside the locallyfunded business case being drawn up to use the northern section of the line to create a Metro extension to take in Washington.

Gateshead Council leader and North East Joint Transport Committee chair Martin Gannon called the Government’s pledge a “welcome contribution”.