I’ve mentioned before my love of history, and my pride that this part of the world was at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution. I like the fact that the North East was the workshop of the world, and made goods that were at the cutting edge of technology and provided this region with job creation and prosperity, based upon engineering. Hartlepool helped make the modern world was it is: I don’t think we make enough of the fact that the very first oil tanker in the entire world was built and launched from West Hartlepool dock in 1892.

The thing is, I don’t think engineering and manufacturing should be part of our past. I passionately believe that if we are to compete in the modern world, we need to ensure that all our strengths are used. We still have in Hartlepool the engineering skills and the facilities to exploit great market opportunities in modern industries like renewable off shore wind energy. We have great companies locally who can meet this demand and provide jobs and further contracts. We have JDR Cables, a leading (and growing) cable manufacturer for renewable energy projects, as well as Heerema Hartlepool, which is one of the world’s leading specialist in the engineering and fabrication for the energy industry. We also have had in the last few days Corus stating that they are investing £32 million in Teesside in the offshore renewables market. We have a great port, as many people saw last week with the Tall Ships that has deepwater capacity, meaning that ships can berth close to the docks, load up and then sail quickly to the North Sea.

All the companies need to come together to see how they can work closely and more cost effectively. This happened last week as part of the Tall Ships event, when PD Ports, the company which owns the port, hosted a conference, entitled Chain Reaction, for companies to come together to see how they can co-operate to take advantage of this opportunity. I was really pleased that Paul Barker, PD Ports Development Director, was able to lead this conference.

Chain Reaction is needed and welcome. It is my vision for Hartlepool and the wider Teesside area to be the centre of excellence for energy, whether it is renewable like off shore wind energy, or nuclear, or even embracing the traditional energy sources that are still needed like oil and gas.

I can’t stress enough how much potential there is with this initiative. The world’s move from fossil fuels to renewable sources will take place in the next 40-50 years, and Hartlepool is well positioned, with its skills, companies and facilities, to take advantage of this.

Chain Reaction will cluster companies together to ensure that they can offer the highest quality product to customers around the world. I want to assist in this venture by offering support, co-ordination and mentioning the initiative in Parliament to Ministers. In this way, I hope we are at the start of a long-standing prosperous time for engineering in Hartlepool. Not only did Hartlepool build the 19th century, I think we are best placed to build the 21st century. But we have to act now.