The extension of the TransPennine electrification scheme, the upgrading of the area’s strategic road network and the building of a new road crossing across the River Tees were all put forward in the 90-page report unveiled yesterday by the former Conservative deputy prime minister.
A multi-million-pound redevelopment of Darlington station was cited as crucial to regenerating the area.
In November 2015, Lord Heseltine was given the role as chair of the Tees Valley Inward Investment Initiative, a team tasked with driving investment into the Tees Valley area following the closure of SSI’s Redcar plant.
The closure of the SSI steelworks saw more than 2,200 jobs lost, and these were accompanied with significant job losses at the Boultby potash mine and the Air Products energy-from-waste plant.
Lord Heseltine said he saw transport as one of the key ways of bringing money into the region and said there had been a “lack of major investment in the strategic road and rail networks” when compared with other regions of the country.
He called on the government to “seriously investigate” extending the current TransPennine electrification programme to include rail lines between Northallerton and Teesport.
Network Rail and Transport for the North should commit to the redevelopment of Darlington station in Control Period 6 between 2019 and 2024, he added.
Lord Heseltine also called for a review of the area’s strategic road network. This should include looking into improvements in east-west connectivity on the A66 and the building of a new crossing as part of Highways England’s existing A19 Norton-Wynward road-widening scheme.
Energy projects were highlighted in the report for their capacity to create new jobs.
Lord Heseltine called on the government to set out its new approach to carbon capture storage following its decision to scrap the £1bn CCS commercialisation competition last November and to see whether a support mechanism could be put in place to support the technology’s development in the area.
The report added that Hartlepool Council should press ahead with feasibility work looking into a site in Hartlepool as the site of the country’s first ever small modular reactor plant.
