£9m agreed for regeneration across Northumberland town centres

12 Mar 2025

Millions of pounds of funding has been agreed to improve seven towns across Northumberland. 

The County Council’s Cabinet agreed proposals to establish a new £9m Town Centre Transformation Package funded by Northumberland County Council as part of the county’s £21m Borderlands Place Programme.  

£4m of this funding is to enable early delivery of a number of town centre projects to drive forward culture, tourism, heritage and connectivity led improvements which will give a real boost to local communities.  Projects are set to get underway across the county from 2025 onwards. 

All the projects are part of the Northumberland Borderlands Place Programme  - a ten-year £21m investment programme focused on town growth in Alnwick, Prudhoe, Bedlington, Newbiggin, Bellingham, Haltwhistle and Rothbury. 

The Place Programme includes up to £3m investment for each of the seven town included from the Borderlands Growth Deal and the County Council combined, which can be matched with other funders too.  

Each town has now developed a Place Plan supported by a pipeline of project proposals at varying stages of development, and these plans are all now endorsed by the Borderlands Partnership – after the final three - Bellingham, Haltwhistle and Rothbury were agreed last month. 

Across the county, potential funding has been earmarked for projects and delivery from 2025 onwards is set to include: 

• Alnwick town centre - up to £1.2m to support enabling works to Northumberland Hall in advance of the development of the site as the new home of the proposed new Bailiffgate Museum and wider improvements to the Market Place as well as improvements to the Bus Station to become a revitalised Transport Hub. 

• Prudhoe – up to £500,000 towards development of the East Centre a new youth and community facility, the Glade Town Square and public realm and wayfinding improvements. 

• Bedlington – up to £600,000 towards the Bedlington Station Heritage Café and Bistro alongside town centre improvements including a Market Place revitalisation project. 

• Newbiggin – up to £550,000 towards the first phase of a promenade transformation project including car parking improvements 

• Bellingham – up to £250,000 towards the Station Yard business pods and storage facilities, part of the masterplan for this key heritage led visitor attraction, community and business hub 

• Haltwhistle – up to £200,000 towards improved visitor facilities capitalising on the town’s longstanding popular visitor attractions. 

• Rothbury – up to £200,000 towards a range of town centre improvements focused on improving public realm and visitor infrastructure including car parking. 

Each town’s Place Plan has been developed and backed by its local Place Partnership Group which brings together public, private and community stakeholders including local County Councillors and Town Councils with the collective aim of improving each town. 

The approach in each town reflects the size and scale of settlement and, at this stage in the programme’s development the anticipated likely mix of projects in the longer term that could be funded as part of the wider Borderlands Place Programme. 

Leader of Northumberland County Council, Glen Sanderson, said: “We’re delighted to be able to bring these plans to Cabinet which involve accelerating the delivery of a huge range of improvements to towns across our county. 

"We now have seven towns with delivery set to get underway from 2025 onwards and I’m looking forward to each project making a positive impact locally as we continue to build towards delivering the Borderlands Place Programme across our county. 

Rick O’Farrell, Director of the Borderlands Growth Programme, added: “The Borderlands Place Programme is a critical part of the Borderlands Growth Deal.  

“We have already seen major projects underway and completed or moving closer to getting started soon as part of this long term deal with UK and Scottish Government. 

“Ad Gefrin and Lillidorei have been hugely successful with the Maltings Theatre developing well.  This commitment from us to accelerate the Place Programme and invest in seven towns to get delivery underway is fantastic news and I’m looking forward to seeing each town develop in the future.” 

Jeff Boyd, Chair of Bedlington Place Partnership Group and Director of Development at Bernicia Housing Group, added: “It’s great to hear of this backing for new projects to boost both Bedlington town centre and Bedlington Station alongside the announcements across all the towns in the Borderlands Place Programme. 

"We have been working closely together to develop opportunities to improve this area and I’d like to thank local County Councillors, West Bedlington Town Council and East Bedlington Parish Council alongside our private and community partners for all the work they have done to date and their continuing support to develop and deliver this programme.” 

More details of the plans for towns is available HERE