Tourism: Northumberland

Emma Foody Excerpts

Tuesday 19th November 2024 Westminster Hall

[Emma Foody (Cramlington and Killingworth) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is an honour to serve under your esteemed chairmanship, Sir Roger. I start by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Hexham (Joe Morris) on securing this debate. Tourism is a vital industry in Northumberland and it provides a huge number of livelihoods in our communities. Before we get into the matter at hand, it is really important to correct the record. While Robson Green was born in Hexham, he grew up in Dudley in my constituency.

Now that we have that matter out of the way, in my constituency of Cramlington and Killingworth we are blessed to have access to some of the most beautiful parts of this country. Tourism is the largest share of the economy, bringing in over £1 billion and seeing over 10 million visitors each year. I know that many will go to places such as Hadrian’s wall in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Hexham, or perhaps Bamburgh castle in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for North Northumberland (David Smith), but Cramlington and Killingworth in south-east Northumberland is the gateway for many into our great county and a destination in its own right.

We boast some of the best coastline anywhere in the world in Seaton Sluice, which many will know from the detective drama “Vera” as the place where an extraordinary number of bodies happened to turn up. Thankfully for our tourism industry, that is more brilliant fiction than fact, and instead there we find thousands of families, dog walkers, cyclists, surfers and more from across the region and the whole country, enjoying what is a fantastic and well-regarded beach. Events such as Harbour day are fantastic community events and draws for locals and tourists alike.

We have so much more to offer than the beach and the harbour. My hon. Friend the Member for Hexham may have Michelin-starred restaurants, but he should know that my constituency has the best fish and chips in all Northumberland—the world-famous Harbour View fish and chip shop. It is so good that, on Good Friday each year, the queues are so long that it has to provide live entertainment, with musicians and even a magician recently entertaining customers in recent years. It is the opportunity to both have fantastic food and overlook the harbour and the sea, which attract so many people to travel from far and wide to our beautiful county.

Further inland we have access to serene wooded walks through the countryside, such as Holywell Dene, and destinations that attract tourists from near and far to see some of the art on the south-east Northumberland art trail. The Giant Spoon in Cramlington, which represents the area as one of the UK’s breadbaskets, and the eerie but magnificent Capella statue nearby, the Shroud, are again one of the many reasons why people travel to Northumberland. We also have the benefit of the sensational Seaton Delaval hall, a grade 1 listed, English baroque country house that contains all the most eccentric trappings of country life and is run by the National Trust. People travel to see the architecture and the renovations that have kept that hall alive for the public. There is also the famous story of the “White Lady” who fell in love with one of the Delaval heirs and can be seen waiting for her forbidden partner to return. As I mentioned in my maiden speech in the House, it is also the iconic setting of “Geordie Racer”, a part of history in its own right. How can we not mention the great land sculpture of the Lady of the North, or Northumberlandia? This sculpture of a woman set into the ground is 400 metres long and 34 metres high. It is an artistic masterpiece that captures the beauty of the human form using the earth from Shotton mine. There is also a regular market there providing opportunities to support local business, and I can highly recommend the Sunday dinner at The Snowy Owl nearby.

Much of our tourism industry is about experiencing beautiful places such as Seaton Delaval hall or Northumberlandia, but it is also about the people, the culture and the feeling of a place. Geordies are famous for being friendly and kind. It is the passion we have for our places and the people who keep them running every single day that make people want to visit our county, just as much as the beautiful places and sights do. We know that when people come to Northumberland, they leave feeling embraced by a people in the north-east who welcome them and want to share with them the beautiful sights. This industry is reliant on people, and without the support that my friend, the hon. Mackem—sorry, I mean my hon. Friend the Member for Hexham—mentioned so valiantly in his remarks, we face a future where, despite our Geordie charm, it is just not possible for so many of our beautiful places to be enjoyed and protected for the next generation.