Emma Foody

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. The infrastructure in my constituency that I am talking about—as my hon. Friend the Member for Blyth and Ashington (Ian Lavery) highlighted—is the Moor Farm roundabout; hon. Members will be aware that barely a day goes by when I do not talk about it. I have also met Transport Ministers and I continue to lobby for the much-needed upgrades to be progressed through the road investment strategy. As has been mentioned already, however, this issue goes far beyond the road network and beyond my area; it affects the entire north-east region. That is why I have called for this debate with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government as the answering Department, because it is about housing, local plans and devolution. It is also critical to several councils in the north-east. I will set out the context of the existing infrastructure at Moor Farm. This roundabout is a major strategic six-armed roundabout. It links the A19, A1 and A189. Sitting at the south of Northumberland on the border with North Tyneside, it is heavily congested and well used. It is a key gateway for the region and the link between Newcastle International airport and the ports of Blyth and Tyne. It is the key growth corridor for south-east Northumberland. There is significant congestion at Moor Farm roundabout, which causes misery to local residents. We frequently see substantial delays, especially as a result of accidents on or near it. In recent weeks, we have seen delays of hours due to incidents that are far too frequent. The Department for Transport’s own statistics show that between 2021 and 2024, there was an 85% increase in delays through the northbound A19 section of Moor Farm and 36% increase in delays southwards. The north-east local transport plan states that Moor Farm generates congestion, worsens air quality and results in unreliable journey times. However, this is not a debate on the transport elements of Moor Farm—hon. Members can go back to my previous Westminster Hall debate for that. In this debate, I want to talk about how the situation at Moor Farm is impacting growth and development across the region in the short and long term. Moor Farm is a blocker to growth and a blocker to opportunity. It is preventing business expansion, causing investment to be delayed or withdrawn, costing jobs and hampering growth. It is putting at risk not only existing development sites for employment and housing in Northumberland and North Tyneside, but the ability for those councils to update their local plans and meet the housing need. Since being elected, I have met National Highways on several occasions. In the last few weeks, I have written again to the chief executive. Last week, I met regional representatives in Parliament, and I have met the North East Mayor and the roads Minister. The aim of this debate is to discuss the impact that National Highways and the situation at Moor Farm are now having on the ability to determine planning applications—whether for businesses to grow or for housing—across my constituency and beyond. The Minister will know that as a statutory consultee, National Highways can issue holding recommendations on planning applications, in effect preventing them from moving forward. In response to my written question, it has been confirmed that there are at least four holding objections on applications for housing and business development as a direct result of the Moor Farm roundabout. Not only that, but applicants are delaying or redirecting their investment because they have been told that National Highways would apply a holding objection, so there is a far greater lost opportunity cost. I know from speaking to developers, businesses and the community that investment has not been brought forward because of concerns that planning will be refused or held back as a result of holding objections or unrealistic mitigations. I will give some examples. The Port of Blyth sits in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Blyth and Ashington. He and I recently met representatives of the port who informed us that their key near-port site for inward investment is at West Hartford in my constituency, the largest remaining strategic employment site in the whole of Northumberland. It is 10 minutes from the Port of Blyth’s main terminals and there is a firm interest in developing the site. This is a key regional stakeholder seeking to invest nearly 2,000 jobs and £400 million in my community, but National Highways has indicated that it would object because of Moor Farm, despite traffic impact assessment modelling indicating that the proposal would add one queuing vehicle during the morning peak rush hour and three in the afternoon. National Highways’ objection is simply not reasonable or proportionate, but should it apply a holding objection, there is little that could be done locally due to its role. The Port of Blyth has rightly called for a more pragmatic cost-benefit approach. That is just one example. The North East combined authority estimates that within a 5-mile radius of Moor Farm there is commercial development with the potential to support more than 11,000 jobs at risk of being held back due the constraints of the roundabout. Another local developer has spoken of sites—one of £500 million in gross development value and one of £1 billion in gross development value—that are in current adopted local plans but are being held up because of the roundabout. I have been told that this has meant 18 months to two and a half years of additional modelling and surveys, but still they have not been able to proceed. One developer described this as a “near endless loop of present information, National Highways’ consultants review, then respond, rinse and repeat”. That has real-world impacts. A separate developer on an existing site warned that they may have to remove apprentice roles and other jobs if the issue is not resolved, depriving the community of local opportunities and impacting the local supply chain. That development is already baked into the housing delivery numbers but cannot move forward. Another developer explained that they might not suggest future viable sites as a direct result of expected objections from National Highways, reducing their work and footprint in the area.