It’s brilliant to see that A&P Tyne, Hebburn yard secured a visit from Alison McGovern MP and as a Birkenhead MP for her to signal the desire to see the return of shipbuilding. I am long invested in this, I was there for the final shift leaving Swan Hunter, despite the huge amount of work led by former Newcastle East MP Nick Brown. I have worked with industry and the public making the case for the marine industry as well as oil and offshore. It’s all about action and outcomes. I led the work for the A&P Tyne yard in the lobbying government to secure much needed work for the aircraft carrier, ensuring security of the yard and job creation. What a result this was for the company and the region. ( see below) https://lnkd.in/eYcDFCtT So this is a long held passion of mine. It’s the reason why I have never let up on the need for a long term dredge solution for the River Tyne, and for the lifting of the cables - my first correspondence to government on this issue was 1992, and we have seen numerous governments fail to grasp this economic opportunity. Today I feel a glimmer of hope through the work of the task group is pressed to establish Tyne First, and the development of the first regional industrial strategy. This is also why I went to the line on securing the green super port in the devolution deal. I’m sadly no longer in a role of influence but I’ll certainly be making sure to hold all who are to the task. UK content. UK quality. Long term, quality jobs which would run through generations. This is our opportunity to redefine the North East.
Nigel Thompson
2mo
Dredging the Tyne to create the facilities you mention would be an ideal enabler to get more of these 'heavy' but next gen projects onto the Tyne and hopefully the Wear. Given the modular design of ships, rigs, turbines now the timeline to completion would be greatly shortened and therefore more cost effective, getting facilities deployed at scale and rapidly to bring online will increase ROI making the Region more attractive to investors.
Knowledge Transfer Partnership Manager, working with business and academics at Northumbria University
2moI lobbied for this too first with the Shipbuilders & Shiprepairers Association when we learned that the RAND report had completely overlooked the region and later through the Carrier group of NORTHERN DEFENCE INDUSTRIES LIMITED bringing the procurement team from Bristol to view the Tyne sites (especially A&P) and even the Pallion yard on the wear. A&P was a great win for the region. We spent time talking to Whitehall stakeholders and the T1 bidders at Royal United Services Institute and in Bristol, Glasgow and Portsmouth. The facilities on the Tyne are still viable, our workforce will require some strategic investment.