Leamside line: cross-party MPs united in campaign for reopening

MPs backing the Leamside line proposals met on Wednesday

MPs have met the Rail Minister Huw Merriman to make their case that a disused train route should be restored.

They want the Leamside railway line, which ran between Gateshead and County Durham and closed in 1964, reopened.

Although the minister said he could not yet commit the Department for Transport to paying for it, he did see its "benefit to the UK as a whole".

MPs including Sedgefield's Conservative MP, Paul Howell, said the meeting was a "positive step in the right direction".

The Leamside line, was among projects listed on the government's website at the beginning of October as part of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's plans to reallocate £36bn from the scrapping of HS2's northern leg.

However, it was quickly removed.

The government later said the new mayor for north-east England will decide the line's future next year - potentially with money from £1.8bn regional funding to part-fund it.

The Leamside line was among proposals announced by the PM on 4 October

The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the Leamside line, which was closed in the 1964 Beeching cuts, said they were "united" in their mission.

They spoke about the benefits of bringing the railway back into use, which would include allowing an extension of the Tyne and Wear Metro to Washington, providing an alternative path for freight trains, which could in turn, increase capacity on the East Coast Main Line.

"Our attitude has changed"

Mr Merriman told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "I don't want to give any assurances at all, but our attitude has changed in terms of what is possible and what we can use funding for as well."

He told the group the campaign had "such a strong narrative" and could demonstrate that the North is "more than Manchester".

The former Durham University student, added: "I think it is a great project. It has always lacked the funding but I would say the funding is there or certainly moving in that direction for you to decide what you want to do with it. We want to support you in every regard to make that happen."

Joint chair of the APPG, the Labour MP for Washington and Sunderland West, Sharon Hodgson said the meeting was "very positive", adding that the campaign was "nationally known" after the government's "excruciating" removal of Leamside from the Network North list.

Mr Howell, the MP for Sedgefield, said that the APPG was more "united" than ever and that the Leamside campaign had moved on "a country mile" in recent weeks.

Tobyn Hughes, managing director of Transport North East, said that local leaders had to "accelerate our work" to develop a business case for the Leamside line's reopening, adding that the government "cannot just walk away" from the idea.