Tyne is essence of third mayoral term
THE River Tyne will be made “great again” – this was the vow made by Labour’s Norma Redfearn as she was elected as North Tyneside’s mayor for a third term.
The former headteacher stormed to victory in the borough’s mayoral elections with a massive 33,119 first choice votes.
In her victory speech she said she was “honoured” to be re-elected to North Tyneside’s top job.
Mrs Redfearn put her success down listening to residents in her borough.
She said: “I think that there’s something about working closely with your residents and sharing things.
“If there’s something that residents feel very strongly about, if we can possibly do something we will.”
Mrs Redfearn said that in her next term she would work on creating environmentally friendly jobs in a bid to restore the Tyne to its former glory.
She said: “I think the green agenda is really important. I have a strong feeling about making the river great again.
“I remember when it was vibrant with people working on it. We lost manufacturing, ship building and mining.
“There is a fantastic opportunity in the green agenda working with people, entrepreneurs, to achieve jobs and apprenticeships.”
She also said she wanted to tackle the increasing gulf between rich and poor as well as help youngsters who missed out on their education as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. She added: “It’s about giving people
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hope and opportunities. We need to reduce the carbon footprint – I think we’re well on our way.
“Over the last 12 months its been more and more obvious the increasing inequality between the haves and the have-nots.
“There’s young people who have missed out on education – how do we work with schools to give them a chance to make up some of what they have lost?” In second place was
Tory candidate Steven received 19,366 votes.
He said: “It’s been a really good campaign. “The whole team really put in effort and really put in the miles.
“It’s a shame North Tyneside hasn’t followed other areas in the North East by electing a Conservative mayor but I do want to take the opportunity to congratulate Norma Redfearn on her third term.”
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