‘Light at end of tunnel’ for Tyne ferry jetty plans
A TOP Tyneside council chief says he has faith for the first time in years that a multimillion-pound plan to secure the future of the Shields Ferry will come to fruition.
It was revealed on Wednesday that hopes are now high for a bid to build a new north landing for the boat crossing to replace the dilapidated North Shields jetty.
Council leaders are expected to sign off next week on £4.58m of funding to help deliver the longawaited project, with an expectation that more money will be on the way following the election of the new North East mayor in May.
There have been repeated warnings that the current landing will fall into an unusable state from next year, threatening the operation of the vital transport link. Efforts to build a new jetty closer to the North
Shields Fish Quay have been hit by a series of setbacks and the repeated delays have seen the estimated cost spiral from £8.8m in 2020 to nearly £15m today.
But Carl Johnson, the deputy mayor of North Tyneside, told his colleagues on Thursday that he now sees “light at the end of the tunnel”.
Coun Johnson said it was the first time he had confidence in the scheme being delivered since it hit choppy waters back in 2021, when ferry and Metro operator Nexus lost £5.6m of Government funding as it was unable to hit a building deadline.
The project has since been included in a failed Levelling Up Fund bid from North Tyneside Council.
Coun Johnson has previously warned that, if the ferry were to close down, then the North East would never get it back.
But he told a North East Joint Transport Committee (JTC) meeting on Thursday: “Perhaps for the first time since we lost the Government funding a couple of years ago, I am confident that there is light at the end of the tunnel and we will be able to secure the move from the ferry landing in North Shields to Western Quay.
“There is lots of work to be done but I am confident. It will be massive for Nexus and for North Tyneside Council and our regeneration of North Shields.
“It is a really positive development and I am looking forward to seeing it in future years.”
Regional transport chiefs have asked for the Government to accelerate £8.1m of the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement that will be given to the incoming mayor, which is widely expected to be approved, while Nexus and the North East Local Enterprise Partnership are also committing money to the new ferry landing.
March 2025 has previously been marked as the end of life date for the current north jetty, though Nexus said this week that it “can’t predict the lifespan exactly”.
But a report to the JTC’S Tyne and Wear sub-committee states that the new landing is now expected to be completed in November 2026 and the current one demolished the following January.
Perhaps for the first time since we lost the Government funding a couple of years ago, I am confident that there is light at the end of the tunnel
DEPUTY MAYOR CARL JOHNSON