Dear Editor,
Reports are coming in that the Chancellor is preparing to greenlight a £1.7 billion extension of London’s Docklands Light Railway (DLR) to Thamesmead, presented as a catalyst for thousands of new homes, economic growth and up to 10,000 new jobs, along with almost £18bn of private investment in the area. While we in Ferryhill and County Durham are once again asking what about us?
The announcement, reported by the Press Association, underscores a widening North/South divide. It is no longer just economic, but it’s about who gets to thrive.
Ferryhill is now ranked the 8th most affordable town in Britain by Zoopla, (Shildon at number one) but this affordability masks a deeper reality of low wages, limited opportunity, and decades of underinvestment. It is a symptom of being forgotten.
The government’s recent Plan for Change and Pride in Place funding initiatives promise to reverse this neglect. Seventy-five towns across the UK were selected to receive up to £20 million each over the next decade to revive high streets, restore civic pride, and tackle deprivation. But Ferryhill wasn’t on the list. The criteria of economic decline, struggling high streets, and social need fits Ferryhill to a tee, yet the funding went elsewhere.
While London’s infrastructure expands, Ferryhill and County Durham continue to grapple with high levels of poverty and deprivation, limited transport links, and a generation of young people forced to leave in search of opportunity.
The question now is whether the government will listen, not just to statistics, but to the community behind them. Because if £1.7 billion can be found for a train line in the capital, (don’t get me started on the Leamside Line) surely £20 million can be found for a town that’s been waiting far longer for its journey to begin.
Yours sincerely,
Glenys Newby, Ferryhill
Ferryhill & Chilton's local community newspaper.
