The deputy leader of Northumberland County Council has refused pleas from local councillors to reopen Blyth’s main shopping centre.
Keel Row closed its doors for the final time at the end of February ahead of a major development as part of the £90 million Energising Blyth programme. The shopping centre will be demolished to make way for the Energy Central Institute, which will provide higher education courses for those hoping to work in the town’s booming clean energy sector.
However, some local residents are concerned about what the loss of the shopping centre will mean to footfall in the town centre. This is despite the fact that less than half of the units were occupied prior to the closure.
Speaking at Monday’s meeting of Northumberland County Council’s Corporate Services and Economic Growth scrutiny committee, Labour’s Coun Eileen Cartie, who represents the town’s Wensleydale ward, criticised the decision to close the centre.
She said: “There was no public consultation regarding Keel Row, no attempt to try anything apart from pull it down to make way for the education facility.
“We want education, but we want shops as well. No-one agreed to Blyth becoming a dormitory town.
“Amble and Morpeth are busy and they’re thriving – I’m absolutely impressed when I go to them. Blyth has a population of nearly 40,000 people – why should we be a sleeper town?
“We have business people in this council who could have looked at the shopping offer. I’m sure there are people that could make it work like Morpeth, Cramlington or Amble.”
The county council purchased the centre from Northumberland Estates last year with a view to demolishing it for the Energy Central Institute.
Coun Kath Nisbet, who represents the Blyth Croft ward that includes Keel Row, added: “We have brought up a lot of ideas like running an indoor market or breaking up the bigger shops into smaller ones.
“The money coming into Blyth is absolutely wanted, we need it – but not in the way that seems to be happening. We could be doing something in Keel Row – look at Amble, that is a brilliant set up, we could do something like that.”
Deputy leader Coun Richard Wearmouth said: “In terms of the Keel Row, there were a number of shops there but it was ever dwindling. It was struggling more and more and more.
“Councils shouldn’t really run shopping centres. There was a perfectly good shopping centre operator in Northumberland Estates – they could not make it work.
“We came in to avoid someone taking control of that site in a detrimental way to the town centre. Shops don’t last because you don’t have the footfall in the town centre and we have got to change that.
“There won’t be a proposal from this administration to reopen Keel Row. That won’t happen.”
Coun Wearmouth also explained that Northumberland Estates had attempted some of the solutions suggested, adding: “They didn’t work.”
Corbridge’s Coun Nick Oliver agreed. He added: “There is no point in trying to flog a dead horse. You have to make change and find new reasons to bring people in.
“Supply and demand is completely out of sync in Blyth – there are too many shops. Keel Row was at less than 40% capacity and many weren’t even paying rent.
“They were on rate-only deals and they still couldn’t make it work.”