Work is continuing on two new carparks in the county due to open this summer. 
 

The Goosehill carpark in Morpeth, on the site of the former first school, will contain 128 standard parking bays, eight disabled bays and six electric vehicle charging spaces. 
 

And in Amble, land next to the existing car park on Turner Street and the car park itself were bought by the county council, to develop a new car park, increasing the number of spaces from 49 to 134 including disabled and electric vehicle allocation. 
 

At Goosehill, when excavations started, a number of issues were discovered that led to delays including the need for a redesign of the proposed drainage system and electric cables found not buried to the right depth. 
 

With issues now resolved site works are expected to re-start week commencing February 28th and continue until August.  
 

In Amble, the detailed construction design work has resulted in the proposed drainage outfall having to be revised, with further investigations having to be carried out due to the need to drill through an existing sea wall to create the new outfall point. This detailed design is nearing completion and works are set to start in May for completion in late July or early August. 
 

Paul Jones, Director of Local Services with the County Council, said: “Creating more parking spaces in our town centres can be challenging and we’ve come up against some technical issues which are now being resolved at both sites, with the aim of them being ready for the peak tourism season.”