£300m port scheme a priority, says minister (From The Northern Echo)

£300m port scheme a priority, says minister

10:46am Saturday 28th July 2007 in Support Our Port

THE new minister for the North-East, Nick Brown, has backed plans to build a £300m deep-sea container terminal on Teesside.

Mr Brown said seeing through the Teesport scheme, which could create up to 7,000 jobs, was a "top priority".

The PD Ports project had seemed in doubt, after no firm commitment was made in the Regional Spatial Strategy, the Government's economic blueprint for the North-East.

But Mr Brown said yesterday: "I'm a big supporter of Teesport.

"I am arranging to meet the people in charge of the project and I am firmly on their side. It would be a great investment for the whole of the region."

If the terminal is built, goods could be shipped directly from the Far East, bypassing ports in the South of England.

It is thought the project would save 70 million road miles a year.

Mr Brown, who was given responsibility for the region by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, was speaking at a meeting of the North-East Economic Forum, at the start of a summer-long tour.

He said: "This summer recess, I'm going to go around the region, meet the people and listen to what they have to say.

"I'm going to put my heart and soul into it."

James Ramsbotham, chief executive of the North-East Chamber of Commerce, said: "It's an incredibly exciting time for the North-East. It feels to me that everything is coming together.

"The business sector is driving forward and the public sector is getting its act together. There's a real shared sense of purpose."

Mr Brown said he wanted to take a shortlist of priorities - with transport near the top - to the prime minister.

He also called on County Durham's district councils, which are to be scrapped in favour of countywide unitary authorities, to drop their objections.

He said Government structures must allow the city regions of Tyne and Wear and Tees Valley to drive the North-East economy.

"The decision in County Dur-ham will allow greater community representation and that's the right way forward," he said.