IT’S a huge honour to be able to lead the North-East Process Industry Cluster (Nepic) and act as a champion of industry and of our great region.

I TOOK this job because I want to be able to shout about the issues I find so important and fascinating - the economy, regeneration and reinvention of communities, and the importance of great manufacturing and industry at the heart of a modern and prosperous economy - for the area of which I’m so proud.

As a means of championing the region, it’s also a privilege to be able to write for The Northern Echo.

The paper has its roots in Darlington, and given Darlington’s importance to the development of railways for the modern world, it’s apt to use a railway metaphor to illustrate how I see the North-East economy now and in the future.

The economy has not been running at full steam for some time.

The closure of much of heavy manufacturing and the coal mines several decades ago meant that, to a large extent, the region hit the buffers.

Many of the industries, which had provided employment and a sense of pride in communities, went.

More recently, the closure of SSI, in Redcar, was an act of appalling economic vandalism, which robbed the British steel industry of one of its most effective assets.

However, it’s difficult to keep such a resilient region down.

And now, I think the North-East economy is at an historic junction.

We are starting to power ahead.

There is so much promise and potential in the region, building on our existing strengths and adapting them for the modern world.

Many people will be familiar with the vote of confidence in the region from the likes of Nissan and Hitachi Rail Europe.

In the chemicals and process sectors, we are seeing more investment in our region from Nepic members than we have for a generation.

They include Sabic’s multi-million pound investment in its Cracker facility, Fujifilm’s Diosynth Biotechnologies’ expansion of its antibody manufacturing factory and – biggest of them all - Sirius Minerals’ investment in the mining of polyhalite, the largest investment in the region, with production lasting for a century.

It's always a bit risky at a junction.

We can’t allow big issues like Brexit and political risk, such a precarious Parliamentary majority for the Government, to derail us.

Of course, deciding to invest in a new facility or production plant requires a sense of confidence that you’ll see a return on your money over a 20 or 30-year period.

This is why we should be proud of the votes of confidence that many companies have given the region over the past couple of years.

However, the region must speak with a strong, co-ordinated and unified voice to make the case for more investment.

I think that means emphasising the importance of skills to economic success, ensuring that everybody in the region has the means to get a better and well-paid job, which gives them a higher quality of life.

It means having the modern infrastructure essential for a 21st Century economy and society.

And it means having a proper industrial strategy, which recognises the importance of a re-balanced economy in which manufacturing plays a key role and all regions contribute to economic success.

The North-East is a strong and resilient region.

It has its challenges, but these are far outweighed by its strengths and potential.

It is an uncertain time and in many ways the turbulence and lack of certainty is deeply worrying.

But at this junction, there is a track that can really lead to sustained prosperity for our region.