Councillor Wallace - An update on the Market Place site.

[Russ Wallace]

Thank you to the hundreds of Bedlingtonians who visited the drop-in at Bedlington Community Centre yesterday. The Arch team were amazed at just how many people came to see the plans and full marks to Arch for sending a seven strong team – the turnout meant they were all needed!

The feedback I received on the display, which was much more detailed than the previous one, was overwhelmingly positive.

For those who were unable to attend the main details were:

• A range of retailers have leased the five largest units. For commercial reasons they cannot yet be named, but they complement rather than rival our current Front Street shops.
• Negotiations are at an advanced stage to lease the other units.
• Work is scheduled to start in Spring 2018 and will be completed by late Autumn 2019.
• Construction will begin with the supermarket, who will use their own design team and appoint their own builders. This is normal practice.
• This will be closely followed by a start on the other retail units. The ‘family friendly’ pub will be the last to be built.

Although I understand scepticism behind the “I’ll believe it when it starts” comment I heard yesterday, it is now pretty certain that the development will go ahead. This would surely be a good time to look to the future and move away from the negativity which has dogged the development to date.

To help clarify the situation over the Old School site, the building is being stripped down and rebuilt. The overall delay is around five weeks with the builders confident they can make up for lost time.

Thank you for reading.

Russ

 

 

 

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