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A month after his historic election win, new North of Tyne Mayor Jamie Driscoll will sign off on his first set of big decisions next week.

The combined authority's cabinet - which includes council leaders from Newcastle , Northumberland, and North Tyneside - will meet for the first time under Mr Driscoll's leadership on Tuesday.

The Labour mayor, who pledged to deliver on a socialist agenda after a comfortable election victory on May 3, has kept a relatively low profile during his first few weeks in office.

Tuesday's meeting will offer a glimpse at the Corbynite's relationship with the North of Tyne's other political supremos - including Northumberland's Conservative leadership and Newcastle City Council chief Nick Forbes, who he defeated to clinch Labour's mayoral nomination.

And while he is expected to set out his stall as the region's new figurehead, next week's meeting in Newcastle will see Mr Driscoll give his backing to a string of initiatives set in motion before his tenure began.

Here is what to expect:

£635,000 cash boost for STEM projects

The Kielder Observatory Astronomical Society and the Woodhorn Charitable Trust have been chosen to share a combined £635,000 grant from the combined authority to help encourage more young people to choose a career in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

Woodhorn will use its £395,000 to work with 15 to 20 first and primary schools to explore STEM subjects and careers, create a STEM club for 20 children aged 7-11 at the Woodhorn Museum in summer 2021, and deliver three short programmes for secondary schools on digital careers.

The Kielder project will receive £240,000 to enable up to 10,000 children and young people each year to take part in school-based science week experiences when they will be taught by members of the observatory team and experience its portable planetarium.

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Each host school will also receive an astronomy kit complete with telescope and be given access to a website so that staff and children can continue their studies remotely.

Mr Driscoll said: "Kids have such great natural curiosity - and that's the foundation of science, technology and engineering. The more we can fire their enthusiasm for a career in these industries, the stronger our future economy will be."

Bid for major transport investment

North of Tyne leaders will be asked to approve £70,000 of funding to help develop the business cases needed to secure investment in a string of massive transport improvements across the region, chiefly from the Government's £1.7bn Transforming Cities Fund.

The projects they are hoping to deliver include:

The restoration of the Northumberland to Newcastle rail line, via Ashington and Blyth;

New and refurbished metro stations in North Tyneside;

New cycling infrastructure across the North of Tyne area;

Transport improvements in Newcastle city centre.

Energy Central learning hub

The authority will also be asked to give £52,500 to produce final designs for a new training and learning centre at the Port of Blyth with the aim of promoting careers in the offshore, renewables, subsea and energy sectors.

A report says that the existing Port Training Centre facilities are "operating at full capacity and are no longer able to accommodate the demands of training providers and employers".

Taking control of adult education

The combined authority wants to take control of the North of Tyne's budget for adult education - equating to £22m a year - from the Government.

The hope is that devolving responsibility to a local level means that training and skills provision can respond to the North East's needs to a much greater extent than it currently can.

Before that happens, the authority must prove to the Government that it is ready to manage the extra cash - something which the Department for Education is currently assessing.

Cabinet will vote to give approval for the NTCA's interim head of paid service, Pat Ritchie, to progress agreements with ministers next month.