Repairs are planned to ensure the Shields Ferry does not have to temporarily shut down before a new landing is built.

It was announced on Monday that the future of the river crossing is set to be secured, with North East mayor Kim McGuinness due to earmark cash to ensure a long-awaited £14.6 million dock next to the North Shields Fish Quay can be built. Transport bosses have been warning for years that corrosion to the ferry’s existing north landing risked it deteriorating into such a poor state that it would become unsafe to use by 2025.

While news that full funding appears to have finally been found for the new development will come as an enormous relief for ferry passengers, the cash is yet to be released and construction is not expected to start until early 2026 – beyond the date at which operator Nexus has warned the current north jetty might have to be closed. However, it has been confirmed that a set of interim repairs are now being planned to ensure the Ferry Mews landing’s lifespan can be extended for another three years while its replacement is being built.

That should hopefully avoid the prospect of the ferry being temporarily taken out of commission. The Local Democracy Reporting Service understands that structural fixes are needed to the landing's bearings, bridge, and pontoon.

Huw Lewis, customer services director at Nexus, said: “We commissioned an independent expert assessment of the current North Shields ferry landing which has identified what structural repairs are needed in order to extend its use.

“These works will, when completed, will extend the life of that landing for a further three years while a new one at North Shields Fish Quay is constructed. We will do all we can to keep the current north landing open during the period it is undergoing these repair works.”

Before May’s mayoral election, North East council leaders agreed to transfer £4.58 million of cash to the ferry landing project from a pot of unspent money leftover from the Metro Flow scheme, a dualling of the railway line between Pelaw and South Shields. Final approval for that is due to be given by the mayor and the North East Combined Authority next Tuesday.

And, crucially, a further £8.2 million is now also earmarked to come from the North East mayor’s allocation of the Government’s City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) – covering a significant deficit in the project, though that proposal will still require the sign off from the Department for Transport.

Nexus previously lost £5.6 million from the Government’s Getting Building Fund because it could not meet a “strict” timescale which would have required the construction works on the new ferry landing to be completed by spring 2022. The project was then included in a Levelling Up Fund bid from North Tyneside Council for a wider regeneration of North Shields, but the application was unsuccessful, while the price tag of the new jetty jumped from £8.8 million in 2020 to nearly £15 million today as inflation hit.