Up to £3m regeneration fund available for Newbiggin by the Sea

Photo by R Miller

The Cabinet at Northumberland County Council yesterday endorsed a recommendation to prioritise Newbiggin by the Sea as one of 7 locations in Northumberland to prepare a Place Plan to identify economic projects eligible for investment of up to £3m from the Borderlands Growth Deal.

The 7 locations were defined as having a demonstrable need for intervention and the scope to develop a reasonable pipeline of potential economic projects that would be eligible for Borderlands
investment.

Place Plans in each prioritised town will be developed by local partnerships consisting of relevant organisations and groups with an interest in that town’s regeneration.

Newbiggin by the Sea will be part of the 1st wave along with Alnwick and Bedlington, the rationale being to finalise and operationalise the Newbiggin Economic Plan that  Newbiggin Community Ventures have been working on in partnership with Northumberland County Council Regeneration Team.

It was noted that despite being one of the county’s most deprived communities, Newbiggin by the Sea is the only significant place on the Northumberland coast that failed to achieve investment from Coastal Communities Funding – due largely to the town’s inability to come together around a coherent plan for the town. This has now been addressed with a draft Economic Plan that can be readily translated into a Place Plan with a pipeline of regeneration projects.

The timeline attached to the report indicates that NCC Regeneration will brief the Town Council on Borderland Place Plans over the summer months and set the task of identifying stakeholders to form the town’s Borderland Place Plan Board.

At the cabinet meeting Councillor Richard Wearmouth commented that ‘there is so much potential in Newbiggin by the Sea for exciting projects to come forward‘, this was echoed by Councillor Glen Sanderson who stated that ‘the future of Newbiggin by the Sea could be considerably enlightened‘.

Councillor Paul Common, Chairman of the Town Council welcomed this announcement, ‘this is exciting news for Newbiggin by the Sea, the Town Council look forward  to meeting with the Northumberland County Council Regeneration Team in the coming months to receive a full brief on the opportunities this will bring for our economy and community‘.