AN independent expert could be drafted in by the government to oversee the Successor submarine programme.

National reports have speculated that National Grid chairman Sir Peter Gershon could be appointed to oversee the Successor submarine programme, set to be built at the shipyard in Barrow. Sir Peter, 69, is also chairman of food manufacturer Tate & Lyle.

Defence industry sources say Whitehall is considering such a radical approach to the £40bn construction project in a bid to prevent the overspend and delays experienced with the Astute-class submarine programme.

Shipyard union representative Azza Samms, convenor for the manual workers in Barrow, does not believe an external chair is needed and argues that Astute and Successor are not comparable projects.

Mr Samms highlighted that the original design for Astute was completed by another company - GEC Marconi. BAE Systems was formed in 1999 after British Aerospace acquired GEC and the new company inherited the submarine contract.

In 2003, BAE and the government renegotiated the Astute contract after the defence giant effectively wrote off £750m in its annual report. BAE said it would never again sign up to a fixed-price contract.

"We didn't do the original design for Astute, you can't compare the two," Mr Samms said.

"You also have to remember we lost those skills before Astute came onboard because of poor planning by the government at the time."

The design of the Successor-class is understood to be around 70 per cent complete. BAE in Barrow, in collaboration with Rolls-Royce, is set to build four Successor boats to replace the Vanguard-class submarines which carry the UK's nuclear deterrent.

At peak, BAE Systems anticipates having between 5,000 and 6,000 working on the Successor programme and more than 9,000 in the submarines business in total - an additional 2,000 on top of the present workforce.

Mr Samms added: "We have done a fantastic bit of work over the last few years. Everybody will have an opinion but I think the company is heading in the right the direction and things look really positive."