Decision

The Cabinet has decided to increase funding for the Northumberland Line project by £28.77 million to ensure its completion.

Analysis

outcome: The Council approved an increase in funding by £28.77 million, with contributions from the Council, Department for Transport, and North East Combined Authority.

summary: The decision involves requesting an increase in funding for the Northumberland Line capital project to support its completion as originally intended.

topline: The Cabinet has decided to increase funding for the Northumberland Line project by £28.77 million to ensure its completion.

reason_contentious: This issue may be contentious as it involves allocating additional funds from other capital projects to support the Northumberland Line project, potentially impacting the completion of other schemes.

affected_stakeholders: ["Council", "Department for Transport", "North East Combined Authority", "Local residents using the Northumberland Line"]

contentiousness_score: 7

political_party_relevance: There are no explicit mentions of political parties in the decision, but political influence may be present in the allocation of funding.

URL: https://northumberland.moderngov.co.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?ID=382

Decision Maker: Cabinet

Outcome:

Is Key Decision?: Yes

Is Callable In?: Yes

Purpose: The purpose of the report is to update on the current status of the Northumberland Line programme, and agree final programme arrangements through to delivery completion in early 2026.

Content: RESOLVED that:-   (3.1) Council be requested to approve an increase to the value of the Northumberland Line capital project by £28.77 million in order to support completion of the project as originally intended. The increase will be achieved by increasing the Council’s contribution by £10m, accepting a further contribution of £7.87m from the Department for Transport (DfT) and a further £10.9m from the North East Combined Authority (NECA). The DfT have provided a further allocation of £9.13m directly to Network Rail making a total project wide increase of £37.9m;   (3.2) Council be requested to approve a capital funding allocation of £10 million as the Council’s contribution towards addressing the funding gap associated with completion of the Northumberland Line project. The funding has been identified using virement identified from other Council-funded capital projects as follows:   Capital Budget  Virement  £  Capital contract inflation  Not utilised in 2024-25 but carried forward to 2025-26. The funding set aside for this will be utilised for the Northumberland Line but will not be replaced.  884,226  Fleet Replacement Programme  Budgets approved and in the Capital Programme for 2025-26 but the expenditure will not take place, therefore the Council funding set aside for these projects is not required in this financial year.  Funding for these schemes at these values will need to be added to the 2026-27 Capital Programme if this method of funding the additional £10 million for the Northumberland Line is approved by full Council.  4,100,000  Mitford Road Landslip Scheme  750,000  Refurbishment of County Hall (Block 2)  3,000,000  Ashington Town Centre Infrastructure  1,265,774  Total funding    10,000,000    (3.3) Council be requested to approve additions to the 2026-27 Capital Programme totalling £9,115,774 (for all schemes listed above except Capital contract inflation) in order to replace the amount of money vired to the Northumberland Line capital project in 2025-26, which will enable those schemes to complete;   (3.4) the Executive Director of Transformation and Resources be authorised, in consultation with the Deputy Leader, to accept a capital funding contribution of £7.87 million from the Department for Transport to the capital programme in 2025/26 to support the completion of the Northumberland Line Project and to execute the associated Funding Agreement documentation; and   (3.5) the Executive Director of Transformation and Resources be authorised, in consultation with the Deputy Leader, to accept a capital funding contribution of £10.9 million from the North East Combined Authority to support the completion of the Northumberland Line Project and to execute the associated Funding Agreement documentation.

Date of Decision: September 3, 2025