Blyth drop-in event attracts thousands

01 Oct 2019 ARCHIVED (over 3 months old) - view latest news

A community event to showcase future plans for Blyth attracted more than 2,000 visitors.

The first Blyth Town Forum Showcase event was held in Blyth Marketplace, featuring a range of displays from the council, its partners, businesses and community organisations in the town.

Blyth Town Forum is a partnership between Northumberland County Council, Blyth Town Council, Advance Northumberland, Active Northumberland and other stakeholders in the town.

It aims to oversee how the town develops over the coming years and the forum want local people to be fully involved as plans develop.

The event featured presentations on the Energising Blyth investment strategy, the proposed relief road, the Northumberland Line and leisure centre investments.

Organisers estimate over 2,000 people visited the event throughout the day, providing nearly 300 completed feedback forms so far.

Councillor Richard Wearmouth, Cabinet Member for Economic Development, said: "This was a fabulous turn-out and I want to thank everyone who took the time to come along and find out more or have their say.

“This is a very exciting time for Blyth and we want the community to be a key part of how we move forward. We’ll now be collating all the feedback and the Forum will carefully consider all the views people have provided.”

County Councillor and Blyth Town Councillor Kath Nisbet added: "I’m so pleased so many people wanted to come along and hear about plans for the town.

“The event was busy throughout the day and you can feel the passion the local community has to improve the town. This was a great start and we’ll be working hard in the coming weeks and months to continue this momentum.”