Latest on Tesco site development

[rosco]

I'll believe it when its all completed..........phase 1 & 2

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

51 minutes ago, rosco said:

I'll believe it when its all completed..........phase 1 & 2

The problem is believing it before it starts - when it's completed we will all believe it.

[_pauls]

A pretty underwhelming update. In fact an update that doesn't actually tell us anything substantial^* over the last update (from May of last year). I note "early next year" of the last update has slipped further into "summer". Would be nice to think we won't have to wait another 9 months for the next update but I won't be holding my breath.

 

^*Except that there are new trees.

Edited February 27, 2020 by _pauls

[rosco]

Well if and its a big if.....work starts in late summer it'll only be 2 years late

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

13 hours ago, rosco said:

Well if and its a big if.....work starts in late summer it'll only be 2 years late

 

Two years, that's the norm, isn't it

"High streets across the country are suffering through the rise of out of town and internet shopping with austerity making things worse."

"Many vital redevelopment projects have been entirely abandoned, including the now infamous ‘Ashington Hole’ and our long-awaited development of the old school site in Newbiggin."

 

Killingworth Road traffic nightmare

 The road, in South Gosforth , first closed in July 2017 to undergo a £13.5m transformation that has seen a new Metro bridge installed and the road widened.

That work should have been all done by February 2018, but is still incomplete after engineers encountered numerous problems including severe weather and asbestos.

 

 

So in 10 years time the headlines will be - Amazon Prime delivery delayed by 30 mins. The government Watchdog & COBR committee to hold emergency meetings.

Regardless of what anyone thinks of council members or Advance Northumberland or Ian Lavery  etc. etc. surely the delays are mainly down to the major retailer = a supermarket chain trying to expand it's business making the final decision to build a new store and then the other retailers, and property developers join in.  

Edited February 28, 2020 by Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)

[Denzel]

Has Tesco shut like?

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

On 14/03/2020 at 10:06, Denzel said:

Has Tesco shut like?

Have ye been queuing ootside the building waiting to stock up?

[Denzel]

On 19/03/2020 at 12:28, Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) said:

Have ye been queuing ootside the building waiting to stock up?

Aye, I've only got 6,000 bog rolls left.

[_pauls]

Three years and one month on since I started this thread and what has progressed in the intervening period? Of course COVID-19 has thrown a spanner in the works everywhere but it would be nice if the InvestingInBedlington.co.uk site was updated at least quarterly but yet again months upon months of silence. In February we were a couple of weeks away from a "final" planning decision.

Whats more now the "Contact Us" page doesn't work and the email address bounces.

Any ideas whether a) the redevelopment is still going ahead or if Aldi have thought twice and pulled the plug and b) assuming it is still going ahead... when are we going to see the first brick laid?

Slightly annoying driving through Amble and seeing their shiny new Morrisons complete with Petrol Station that took around 12 months to approve, build and open while we are sat 5 years on from Arch acquiring the land in Bedlington with absolutely nothing to show for it.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

18 hours ago, _pauls said:

Three years and one month on since I started this thread and what has progressed in the intervening period? Of course COVID-19 has thrown a spanner in the works everywhere but it would be nice if the InvestingInBedlington.co.uk site was updated at least quarterly but yet again months upon months of silence. In February we were a couple of weeks away from a "final" planning decision.

Whats more now the "Contact Us" page doesn't work and the email address bounces.

Any ideas whether a) the redevelopment is still going ahead or if Aldi have thought twice and pulled the plug and b) assuming it is still going ahead... when are we going to see the first brick laid?

Slightly annoying driving through Amble and seeing their shiny new Morrisons complete with Petrol Station that took around 12 months to approve, build and open while we are sat 5 years on from Arch acquiring the land in Bedlington with absolutely nothing to show for it.

@Malcolm Robinson will be the only one with any news/update😷

[_pauls]

Went on to Advance Northumberland's website today to ask them if they could update the Investing In Bedlington website and was greeted with a friendly "Chat with us" popup so I took up their invite.

It took 1 hr 20 mins for anyone to reply despite it asserting that the service was online. Got through to a very surly "Greg" who clearly wasn't happy at me interrupting his Friday. He advised me he'd talk to the team and see if they had any update and would "probably" email me.

It would just be nice to know whether in the 5 months since the last update, a) whether final planning permission for the revised plans from Aldi was granted back in March or if they threw up any more hurdles, b) assuming that COVID hasn't led Aldi to rethink whether the timescales of building work starting "by summer" are still valid, and c) whether any other tenants have been lured.

My breath is not currently being held.

I think there's a real opportunity to breathe fresh new life into towns like Bedlington over the next few months - across the country people are rethinking their priorities and deciding that they don't want to sit in cars for hours commuting into overcrowded and expensive cities any longer, and they are quite happy working from home. I work for a large organisation in Newcastle and they've said that they are happy to afford that kind of flexibility for most people. It saves them money, it saves me money, but if I'm in Bedlington every day not the city centre I want shops here in town that I can nip to. (I would say same for gymns but I'd be lying!). That's why Boris is desperate for people to go back to working in offices - because the 25-odd branches of Greggs will make no money in the city centre without the footfall of office workers, but most of the companies I talk to are not going to order everyone back to their desks. There will be no reduction in demand for shops, but where the demand is will change.

Its a shame that the council/Advance Northumberland seem to have no interest in delivering even the basics let alone being creative in shaping Bedlington's future.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

3 hours ago, _pauls said:

Went on to Advance Northumberland's website today to ask them if they could update the Investing In Bedlington website and was greeted with a friendly "Chat with us" popup so I took up their invite.

It took 1 hr 20 mins for anyone to reply despite it asserting that the service was online. Got through to a very surly "Greg" who clearly wasn't happy at me interrupting his Friday. He advised me he'd talk to the team and see if they had any update and would "probably" email me.

It would just be nice to know whether in the 5 months since the last update, a) whether final planning permission for the revised plans from Aldi was granted back in March or if they threw up any more hurdles, b) assuming that COVID hasn't led Aldi to rethink whether the timescales of building work starting "by summer" are still valid, and c) whether any other tenants have been lured.

My breath is not currently being held.

I think there's a real opportunity to breathe fresh new life into towns like Bedlington over the next few months - across the country people are rethinking their priorities and deciding that they don't want to sit in cars for hours commuting into overcrowded and expensive cities any longer, and they are quite happy working from home. I work for a large organisation in Newcastle and they've said that they are happy to afford that kind of flexibility for most people. It saves them money, it saves me money, but if I'm in Bedlington every day not the city centre I want shops here in town that I can nip to. (I would say same for gymns but I'd be lying!). That's why Boris is desperate for people to go back to working in offices - because the 25-odd branches of Greggs will make no money in the city centre without the footfall of office workers, but most of the companies I talk to are not going to order everyone back to their desks. There will be no reduction in demand for shops, but where the demand is will change.

Its a shame that the council/Advance Northumberland seem to have no interest in delivering even the basics let alone being creative in shaping Bedlington's future.

As I will have a spare 1hr 20mins next week I will try the same as you and see if Greg is working 5 days a week😷.

Never seen any updates from councillor @Malcolm Robinson - for a while . he normally keeps the group up to date - he must be having a well earned holiday🙂 

[Malcolm Robinson]

I wish Alan.................Im hoping for an update soon.  The more observant will have seen quite a few 'suits' walking around Bedlington of late, some who had never been here before!   

I have it from the head of Council, Bedlington is one of the main market Town priorities for NCC so Im pressing for a much more adventurous and ambitious development because like  _pauls said 'people are rethinking their priorities' and like it or not Covid has changed the shape of our commercial landscape and we need a development which will shape our Town for decades to come.  In my view a dozen shops selling the same as what the next town offers will not do that!  

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

3 hours ago, Malcolm Robinson said:

I wish Alan.................Im hoping for an update soon.  The more observant will have seen quite a few 'suits' walking around Bedlington of late, some who had never been here before!   

I have it from the head of Council, Bedlington is one of the main market Town priorities for NCC so Im pressing for a much more adventurous and ambitious development because like  _pauls said 'people are rethinking their priorities' and like it or not Covid has changed the shape of our commercial landscape and we need a development which will shape our Town for decades to come.  In my view a dozen shops selling the same as what the next town offers will not do that!  

Thanks Malcolm.

 

@_pauls - see above from Malcolm.

[_pauls]

Yes thanks Malcolm. I nearly fell of my chair just now when I noted that Bedlington is getting a slice of the £47m kitty for "shovel ready projects" announced to bounce back from Covid. Lets see it put to some good use now.

[_pauls]

On 24/07/2020 at 16:07, _pauls said:

My breath is not currently being held.

Good job I decided not to hold my breath. Three weeks on and no update either by email or to the site.

Even worse... Greg's webchat seems to be permanently off "live" mode. I do hope he is OK.

I appreciate @Malcolm Robinson's comments but an update on the official site set up to keep us informed would be perhaps the most appropriate update.

#WhereIsGreg

[_pauls]

Fantastic news - new leisure facilities including a swimming pool, and a new library heading our way and works on the new anchor store still on track to start in 2020.

https://www.investinginbedlington.co.uk/2020/09/01/government-funding-to-kick-start-work-in-bedlington/

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

2 hours ago, _pauls said:

Fantastic news - new leisure facilities including a swimming pool, and a new library heading our way and works on the new anchor store still on track to start in 2020.

https://www.investinginbedlington.co.uk/2020/09/01/government-funding-to-kick-start-work-in-bedlington/

@_pauls link also has this link at the end of the text :- 

https://www.advancenorthumberland.co.uk/latest-projects/bedlington/bedlington-town-centre

 

[Bedlingtonian]

 

 

[_pauls]

So a year and a bit on and Aldi is nearing completion - its nice to see something in place of the wastelands.

In August 2020 we were promised :

Quote

"The economic impact of Covid-19 on the high street retail market will though result in some changes on the scheme but a new design will reflect the long held ambition of Bedlington residents for improved leisure facilities in the town centre including a swimming pool.
Funding previously set aside for a leisure scheme on the edge of the town will be added to the town centre budget, and alongside the additional government funding will boost the scale of leisure facilities in the town centre.
Further information on the scheme will be released in due course with the design work already underway."

Wonder what happened to that?

[Canny lass]

"You must have ptience Grasshopper". (With apologies to KungFu).

[Malcolm Robinson]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlnoWDHUrAQ&t=6834s

[_pauls]

Thanks Malcolm - appreciate you keeping up the good fight

[Andy Millne]

Thanks @Malcolm Robinson

[Malcolm Robinson]

Actually I had thought this present phase two, i.e. the new frontage onto Market Place, would have been well on its way now and that is why I have been concentrating on the further phases 3 and 4. 

Having secured Bedlington’s place in the Borderlands Deal and been assured we now have a £3M offer on the table, (NB. This is for all of Bedlington) I’m now working with others on a board to get this money spent in the Town and surrounding area, depending on projects coming through.  Obviously a main one is the Town Centre development but then so is the new railway station area. 

https://youtu.be/FYNE5Qy1QsA?t=1923

 

 

I have been told there is a renewed interest from retailers in the scheme so like everyone else I wait with bated breath to get any details.