Chancellor Rachel Reeves says we're taking first steps to fix North East’s crumbling infrastructure

The Chancellor was on Tyneside on Monday morning to champion a £1 billion investment upgrading and repairing run-down transport links, speaking just a stone’s throw away from the condemned Gateshead Flyover that has stood disused for the past six months, writes the LDR Service.

It was confirmed ahead of last week’s Spending Review that the final £6 million needed to finish the Tyne Bridge’s once-in-a-generation refurbishment would be drawn from a £1.85 billion funding package being handed to regional mayor Kim McGuinness, ending months of anxiety about the project.

Ms Reeves’ latest pledge, as the Treasury prepares to unveil a £745 billion infrastructure spending strategy for the next decade, is a Structures Fund targeted at “run-down bridges, decaying flyovers and worn out tunnels”.

And a prime example of that was plain to see for the Chancellor as she met local leaders at the Glasshouse International Centre for Music, just down the road from the shut A167 flyover.

Ministers have yet to commit any money towards dealing with the travel crisis that hit Tyneside as a result of the concrete highway’s sudden closure last December and Gateshead Council has had to set aside £18 million to pay for its impending demolition.

Asked if the Treasury’s infrastructure repair promise could see it step in to support the flyover’s removal or a subsequent regeneration of the area, Ms Reeves told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the Tyne Bridge money was “the start and not the end of the regeneration we want to see in Gateshead”.

She added: “The secretary of state for transport [Heidi Alexander] has met with the council leader in Gateshead [Martin Gannon] and I have had a chance to meet as well today. We recognise the disruption it is causing and one of the reasons we are today announcing the £1 billion Structures Fund is to fund projects to repair crumbling bridges, roads, and tunnels.

“There will be more announcements in due course but no one should be in any doubt about this Government’s commitment to the North East and here in Gateshead too.”

Last Friday marked exactly six months the Gateshead Flyover was closed, with worries that it was at risk of collapsing.

All Tyne and Wear Metro trains between Newcastle and Gateshead had to be suspended last Christmas until the road could be adequately propped up.

Demolition work at the flyover is expected to start in the autumn, but local politicians have warned that Government funding will be needed to revitalise the area once the 1960s-built structure is gone.

Mark Ferguson, the MP for Gateshead Central and Whickham, said on Monday: “People want it dealt with. I know the council has set aside the money to get that done and we are looking forward to seeing it pulled down, but that is only part of the job. We need the investment coming into the town to make sure that whatever happens next is for the best of the people of Gateshead.”

The £1 billion repairs package announced on Monday includes a further £590 million for the Lower Thames Crossing, a tunnel between Kent and Essex which is ultimately expected to cost more than £9 billion to build.

Council leader Martin Gannon told the LDRS that he had been “really encouraged” by his conversation with the Chancellor and that lots of vital infrastructure across the North of England, without the same international profile as the Tyne Bridge, was in need of “far greater care”.

Asked what support he had asked for with the flyover, Coun Gannon said: “What we need is support from a whole range of agencies. The council itself, cash-strapped, has set aside £18 million – that is borrowed. We have committed to removing the flyover. But once the flyover is down, the value of that area around it is massively enhanced and it becomes a prime development site.”

He added: “We need support to make that happen; private developers aren’t going to rapidly move in there selling houses at £1 million a time, like they would in some places. This is a deprived area that needs support. We need support from the Treasury, from the North East Combined Authority, from Homes England. We are now talking to all of those agencies… it is up to us, we need to make a compelling case. The case is compelling because it fits the Government’s agenda in terms of growth, new employment, new homes.”

This month’s confirmation of the Tyne Bridge funding came following months of pressure from local council leaders, MPs, and business leaders for Labour to deliver the cash, which had originally been promised under the Conservatives but was put under review following last summer’s general election.

Newcastle City Council leader Karen Kilgour told the LDRS that the delay had been “frustrating, but it was absolutely right and proper that Government did their due diligence and worked out what they could and couldn’t afford”.