IN about 15 years from now we could see the return of direct flights from Tees Valley to Heathrow.

Pardon us for not getting over-excited.

The Government’s decision to approve expansion at Heathrow has potentially improved the chance of Durham Tees Valley Airport (DTVA) securing a much-prized slot into the capital’s main hub.

This is a small but positive step forward. For far too long, our area has endured substandard transport links, so being able to travel to London in about an hour would be a major boon to business and leisure travellers.

DTVA, which is about to mark its 50th anniversary as an international airport, has struggled to recover from the body blow of losing its scheduled service to London in 2009. Over the past decade there has been an alarming decline in flights and passenger numbers. We still have an airport – but only just – and goodness knows what it will look like by 2030 when regional slots at Heathrow come up for grabs.

In the meantime, £19 billion will be ploughed into the construction of Heathrow’s third terminal. London already gets about 25 times as much spent on infrastructure per resident than up here in the so-called Northern Powerhouse. The Heathrow project will suck even more cash and jobs into the overheated London economy while the Government plans to spend a few millions to improve the North’s ageing roads and railways and is happy to leave the fate of DTVA in the hands of council chiefs and a private landowner.

It seemed strange therefore to hear the North’s MPs line up yesterday to wholeheartedly welcome Heathrow expansion. Are they so in thrall to the power of the capital that they cannot see the project will first and foremost be of benefit to the South-East economy and any positive impact on the regions will take ages to find its way North?