Durham County Council’s Cabinet will hear the second half of an update on recent successes and future plans for towns across County Durham when it meets on 18th January. Councillors will be asked to approve updates of masterplans for Peterlee, Seaham, Spennymoor, Shildon, Barnard Castle and Bishop Auckland. Masterplans are the council’s regeneration frameworks for each major town in the county. Updates for Consett, Crook, Newton Aycliffe, Durham City, Chester-leStreet and Stanley were approved at December’s Cabinet meeting. Working closely with the council’s Area Action Partnerships, the updated plans profile each of the towns, detailing investment and work across the county as well as plans for the future. In addition to highlighting the range of activities undertaken by the council – including improvements to town centres, highways, education and health provision – they also identify the development of new businesses, housing and community facilities. If approved by Cabinet the adopted masterplans will continue to evolve, with the Area Action Partnerships continuing to play a key role in shaping them to ensure that they reflect the priorities of local residents. Cllr Neil Foster, Cabinet member for economic regeneration, said: “The updated masterplans are key documents, setting a clear way forward to bring even further investment and improvements to towns throughout the county. “The masterplans show how the council has invested millions of pounds, right across County Durham, and encouraged even more investment from the private sector; boosting business, safeguarding and creating thousands of new jobs across the county, improving education and transport and creating new housing and community facilities.
“The future is just as bright with a range of plans and new investment for the county. The £1.7 million Coastal Communities Fund backed project to further improve Seaham Marina will continue as well as the new activity centre set to offer water and land sports in the area. In Peterlee we’ll be looking to move forward with our plans for a new railway station at Horden and we’ll continue to invest in our roads and schools as well as targeting support for businesses and high streets countywide to improve the local economy. “All of which is before Kynren returns to Bishop Auckland in the summer and, alongside the council, the Auckland Castle Trust move forward with their range of extremely exciting plans in the town.” Among a range of other success stories and future plans, Cabinet will hear how Peterlee has benefited from a £25 million investment by Bristol Laboratories to set up a new major manufacturing base for generic drugs, employing 347 staff. The new Horden Sea View railway station continues to be a priority for the council which, by making the town more accessible, it is hoped will boost both the town and surrounding areas as well as the employment prospects of the people living there. Seaham continues to enjoy a boom in employment with Business Durham, the council’s business gateway, working to attract 1,200 jobs to the area with ResQ setting up a new call centre at Spectrum Business Park. Business Durham has also been working closely with another resident of the park, Great Annual Savings, as they now look to double their workforce to 300 over the next year.
Seaham Marina can also look forward to further improvements with the continuation of the works as part of a £1.7 million Coastal Communities Fund award.
This will see the boatyard facilities extended and the creation of 19 more berths. In Spennymoor the town centre has seen £300,000 worth of improvements since 2009 targeted towards improving the retail environment with 25 individual businesses supported. DurhamGate is set for further expansion after the owners acquired the former Wellsprings site meaning a development of a further 12,000 sqm of business and office space as well as a potential car showroom, crèche and café. Shildon has seen £9 million worth of private sector investment at the Future Durham Business Park from the CreateCity Group. Fittingly for the home of Locomotion, the National Railway Museum at Shildon – which attracted over 435,000 visitors in 2015 – the visit of the Flying Scotsman in 2016 saw a £100,000 project to regenerate the town centre area in time to welcome it. Following requests from the public, local residents also voted for the council to keep the three decorative arches across the town which will now be repaired and maintained. Barnard Castle is another area in the county that has benefited from major private sector investment with GlaxoSmithKline recently announcing a new £92 million facility to expand and safeguard the future of it operations in the town.
Working alongside the Digital Durham project, residents and businesses are also set to benefit from an improvement to the quality and speed of broadband services through the rollout of the fibre service. Major changes continue in Bishop Auckland with the council working closely with the Eleven Arches and Auckland Castle Trusts on a range of exciting plans. The council is currently carrying out a £2 million refurbishment project in the town centre, improving the links between the castle and the market place, where an award winning, multimillion pound refurbishment was carried out in 2011. The works will see the highway realigned, events and market spaces created as well as new parking. As well as Kynren returning in the summer, the town can also look forward to the progress of the Walled Garden, Welcome Tower and Scottish Wing developments at Auckland Castle among many others. Cabinet will hear about the work carried out so far and be asked to approve the updated masterplans when it meets on 18th January.
