A CAMPAIGN to secure £7.5bn of investment and 8,000 jobs for the North-East has won cross-party support from Durham County Council.

Japanese company Hitachi is poised to create up to 800 jobs directly and 7,000 more in the supply chain by assembling the next generation of high-speed trains at Newton Aycliffe.

However, the Government has put the project on hold, saying it will consider the East Coast Main Line InterCity Express programme as part of October’s Comprehensive Spending Review.

But a range of North-East organisations have joined The Northern Echo in the Back on Track campaign to get the project moving.

Yesterday, the campaign got the backing of Durham County Council’s ruling Labour group along with the opposition Liberal Democrats and Conservatives.

Council leader Simon Henig, the Labour leader, urged all councillors and residents to sign the Back on Track petition.

“If the campaign is successful the impact will be up to 1,000 direct jobs and several thousand more in the supply chain, which would be a massive boost for the economy,” he said.

Councillor Nigel Martin, the Liberal Democrat leader, said: “It’s an excellent prospect and we hope that the Government will be able to support it. It’s new technology and in an area of public transport where we as a country should be investing in the future.

“Governments of all types over the past 50 years have not invested enough in our railways. Starting that up again is a really positive thing and has the potential to create thousands of manufacturing jobs in the county.”

Councillor Richard Bell, the Conservative leader, said he would be writing to Transport Secretary Philip Hammond, urging him to give the project the goahead.

He said: “We have a long heritage of people being involved in building rolling stock and locomotives, and we have got the skills in the county to work at these facilities. It would be an excellent development for the county.”

Labour councillor John Moran, who represents Aycliffe East, was circulating a petition at yesterday’s full council meeting.

Bid for planning extension

DEVELOPERS behind Hitachi’s preferred site for a new train factory have applied for a five-year extension to their existing planning permission.

Merchant Place has lodged the application with Durham County Council for its proposed Amazon Park business park project, in Aycliffe Business Park.

Planning permission was approved for the site by the defunct Sedgefield Borough Council, in 2007, but it could now expire without any development. Amazon Park has since emerged as Hitachi’s preferred site to assemble trains for the East Coast Main Line if the Government gives the scheme the go-ahead.

Merchant Place has asked for a five-year extension to “allow market conditions to recover” and to assist in delivering a phased approach to the development.