Green Party mayoral candidate on Newton Aycliffe Hitachi crisis

The Hitachi factory at Newton Aycliffe has been both a source of pride and a valued employer for our region. Like many commuters within our region who rely on the East Coast Main Line trains, I feel that pride as I step onto and off Hitachi-built trains on a near daily basis.

And as a founding sponsor of UTC South Durham, Hitachi has played its part in providing training and skills to a generation of young people.

That its future is now in doubt due to an imminent production gap, indicates a failure in political and business leadership both within our region and nationally. The solutions have to be both short and long term, and must reflect the realities of rolling stock procurement as well as the need for employment and training within South Durham.Andrew Gray (left) with Green Party deputy leader Zack Polanski (Image: Jess Whittaker)

Those solutions will have to comprise all of the following components - there is no room for one party to blame others for not playing their part, while sitting back themselves.

1. In the short term, national government must extend the Avanti West Coast contract, so that the Hitachi factory has ongoing work to see it through its 2024/25 production gap.

2. At the same time, local government should work with Hitachi to diversify the site, so that it can take on a greater variety of work, save skilled jobs for the longer term, and continue to support a wider supply chain.

3. The newly elected mayor can amplify the voices of the regional press, business leaders, Hitachi and local government, in order to persuade national government to make the right decisions to secure the factory’s future. This will need a credible plan, showing how the factory can thrive in the medium term.

For the longer term, opportunities for new trains will come with replacement of the ageing Northern fleet, and by creating space on the East Coast Main Line for more stopping trains between Newcastle and Berwick. To take full advantage of these opportunities, we need to ensure that the long-term benefits of procuring from locally based businesses are fully recognised.

My manifesto, A Fairer, Greener North East, sets out how better procurement could be supported by the new North East Mayor.

Relying on orders for new trains is unlikely to be sustainable in the long-term, due to the stop-go nature of train procurement and very long lead-in times.

A diversification plan will require considerable investment to repurpose parts of the site and buildings, but should be eminently achievable given Hitachi’s wider engineering and manufacturing expertise.

Recommended reading: 

• Shadow Chancellor vows to keep up pressure to save Hitachi from becoming 'wreckage'

• Newton Aycliffe Hitachi plant reaches crisis point with orders

• Shadow transport secretary call for action over Hitachi

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A good diversification plan, backed by local and regional funds, and demonstrating how it can link with the training provided by UTC South Durham and our other colleges and universities, could make the case for government investment and short-term contract extension irresistible.

By working closely together, we can save the skills and jobs at Hitachi, support communities and businesses within South Durham and beyond, and once again be known as the home of railway engineering.

As the Stockton and Darlington Railway bicentenary celebrations approach, there can be no better time to safeguard Hitachi’s long-term future. Much of the groundwork needs to be done now, so that the new North East Mayor can be knocking on government’s door with a plan in their hand, during their first week in office.