A lobbying organisation from the North East says they’re pleased after having discussions with Northumberland County Council over the future of a new rail project.

Construction Alliance North East had raised concerns as to why the council had opened up the tendering process to contractors across the country rather than in the North East, but they have now met together to discuss their reasoning.

“CAN very much welcomes this level of much needed spend on major infrastructure projects here in the North East, which of course brings construction jobs but also long-term economic benefits to our region,” said Chair Ken Parkin.

“This project is also nationally the first rail project under the governments Project Speed initiative.”

The Northumberland Line project, which was recently given £34m by the government and the Department for Transport, will see the line between Ashington and Newcastle open for the first time in over 50 years.

“In our meeting with NCC, we were keen to understand the procurement route chosen for this scheme which means that local main contractors will be unable to bid on this package of work,” added Ken.

“We were hoping that non-rail side works could be procured regionally, however it was explained that the drive was for certainty of accelerated delivery and the complex interfaces both within the council’s stations package and the wider project construction, meant that the procurement route of a Principal Contractor holding a Network Rail PC licence was in effect the only assured route forward.”

Minister of State for Transport Chris Heaton-Harris recently confirmed six new stations would be built after meeting with Blyth MP Ian Levy.