Mary Glindon MP. Progress on the cables over the Tyne issue

Many policy sticking points are easy to overcome if taken one by one but any government has hundreds of such decisions to take and will therefore have priorities.

It’s frustrating that some decisions take so long and when decided and enacted people are amazed that it wasn’t done before.

I hope that will be the fate of an issue I have been grappling with for the last six years. That is the problem posed by power cables over the River Tyne.

In a nutshell, the cables strung between two pylons restrict navigation for large ships and their freight.

Companies that want to contribute their expertise and products to the offshore wind industry cannot use the river to get tall ships under the cables and to the North Sea.

Several companies have sought my help and I have been working with North Tyneside Council too.

As with all other issues, I have had to constantly raise the case for finding a way for the power cables to cross the Tyne without restricting traffic.

The prize for doing that could be that local companies can thrive and create potentially thousands of jobs.

Ministers have listened politely, but little seemed to change. But there’s been a breakthrough.

My last question to the Prime Minister seems to have hit home. I have been told that the regulator Ofgem is investing £10million in a development study.

It may take a few months but ends with tenders being given to companies. The question of how that is funded will take longer.

There is a balance to be struck between the interests of the taxpayer and those of the companies.

I could argue that resolving the problem will benefit both. A boost to the offshore wind sector creates jobs and that leads to more taxes being paid by employees who also have more money to spend in the local economy.

But I think it’s fair to assume that the feasibility study means that action will be taken in due course. So far, it’s two cheers for the progress but things are moving in the right direction.