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Regional Economy (Tackling the Recession)

It is a pleasure to be in the great town of Middlesbrough to speak at the first meeting of the Grand Committee sitting in the region. I shall adhere to your request, Mr. Cook, and curtail what would have been quite a lengthy speech, dealing with various problems in my constituency, although great progress has been made there over a number of years. We have to understand the background to the position we found ourselves in following the demise and dismantling of our major industry, which was, of course, the mining of coal. The dismantling of the mining industry and the premature closure of pits during the 1980s and 1990s under successive Tory Governments still truly rankles with people who live in traditional mining communities. That is a significant factor in understanding our labour market figures. In particular, the hard physical nature of mining work over many years has taken its toll on the health of the male population. That has manifested itself in ill health and incapacity in later life, and has certainly contributed substantially to the high levels of incapacity affecting many ex-miners. However, there has been a steady reduction in incapacity and long-term sickness benefit claimant figures since 2001. Remarkably, there has been a 20 per cent. reduction in claimants in Easington, with the numbers reducing every quarter since May 2003. More recently, multi-million pound public and private sector investments—driven mainly by the Labour Easington district council, as it was then, and the Labour Durham county council, as it is now—have certainly changed the face of Easington and helped to identify, so that we can diversify, our industrial base. Much of the work to secure investment in the area has borne fruit in the past three years. Over 8,200 more people were in employment in the Easington constituency in September 2007, compared with 2004, although we are now facing the additional challenge of a global economic downturn. This has also impacted on the automotive sector in Peterlee, where, last year, unfortunately, we saw considerable lay-offs in manufacturing and car component supply companies such as Caterpillar and NSK-AKS Steering Systems. Nevertheless, multi-million pound investments are changing the face of Easington, and Labour, in government, working in concert with Durham county council and private sector partners, has already seen the realisation of a number of successful developments. Many others are ongoing—a number of which I know the Minister has visited and taken an interest in over the last several years. These include Byron Place in Seaham, an £18 million shopping mall with an array of high street names including Asda, Wilkinson and Argos. Work was completed on the 300,000 sq ft development by Modus Properties in October 2007. The new shopping development was commissioned to bring new life into the heart of Seaham and it has already created 200 new jobs. I intend to identify those areas where progress has been made over a number of years, to indicate that all is not gloom and despondency in east Durham. On the back of the town centre redevelopment is the £19 million St John’s square development, which will see new commercial and community buildings and health facilities, and see the demolition of derelict and unsightly buildings. The dock company relocation is a £10 million project that started in 1999 to relocate the commercial port-related activity of the Seaham Harbour Dock Co. to the outskirts of the town. It involved the construction of a new freight rail terminal and a new transport hub for distribution networks. It truly paved the way for the recent town centre redevelopment and the future marina development. Following the approval of £2 million of funding from the regional development agency, One NorthEast, the Seaham north dock is witnessing a series of works to boost the economic prosperity of the Seaham dock area. Works currently under way include the installation of new dock gates, the creation of a 77-berth marina and the provision of workspace accommodation for 12 marina-related businesses, creating up to 50 jobs and, I hope, a permanent home to display Seaham harbour’s seafaring heritage and the former Seaham harbour lifeboat, the George Emily. Unfortunately, the lifeboat was destroyed in 1962 in a disaster in which many people lost their lives, but it is undergoing restoration and will, I hope, prove to be a focal point once the redevelopment of the north dock is completed. The first phase of the £16 million east Durham direct link road to Seaham from the Al(M) was completed in September 2008. The second phase—a £1.7 million single carriageway—connects Cold Hesledon junction to the new Hawthorn Prestige business park, which we hope will become home to the Geothermal Research Education and Training Institute and to green businesses involved in work on climate change and carbon dioxide reduction. The project will provide the opportunity to create many thousands of jobs in a global growth industry. We should not forget the contribution of the private sector as an engine of economic recovery. In my constituency, the GT Group has shown the way forward in terms of innovation and has secured a considerable order book, which will help to safeguard existing engineering jobs and create new ones. There is still more work in progress, with projects such as the £300 million world-class Centre for Creative Excellence earmarked for a 200 acre site south of Seaham, which could include educational facilities, a film studio, parkland, leisure facilities and a hotel, with the potential for 2,400 jobs and the magnificent vista of training opportunities for our young people in new media and the creative arts. I extend my thanks to the Minister for the personal interest and drive that he is showing in moving the project forward. Labour in government has continued to address the structural problems of areas such as Easington and it is constantly working to raise the aspirations of the people of the town. We must continue to encourage investment in new physical infrastructures, such as the Hawthorn industrial park, Dalton park phase 2 and Spectrum business park, as well as in town centre developments in Peterlee and Seaham. It is also essential that we continue to diversify our employment base and provide new employment and training opportunities, especially for our young people, in a way that many would not have thought possible only a decade ago. Labour in government has truly shown, and continues to show, the way forward, and I commend the positive and progressive policies that the Government have adopted. Those policies have worked in my constituency and have made a substantial contribution to the local, regional and national economy of the future.