Frustration, but flyover demolition set to begin

GATESHEAD’S council leader has admitted to “frustration” over the time it will take to tear down the town’s doomed flyover, after demolition plans stretching well into 2026 were confirmed.

- DANIEL HOLLAND Local Democracy Reporter [e-mail]

The A167 Gateshead Highway flyover has been closed since December 2024 due to concerns about the safety of the crumbling concrete structure.

After months of waiting, council bosses announced yesterday that a multi-million pound demolition programme will begin next week, October 20.

But the derelict Computer House building next to the flyover will have to be torn down first, meaning that the removal of the flyover itself will not start until early next year.

It is hoped that contractors BAM Nuttall and Thompsons of Prudhoe will have the flyover demolition largely complete by next May, though local authority officials are already cautioning that further delays are possible.

Labour council leader Martin Gannon told the Local Democracy Reporting Service yesterday that he had put “enormous pressure” on civic centre officers over the last 10 months and that “nobody has been more frustrated than me” about the deserted highway’s continuing presence looming over the town.

Coun Gannon, who had pledged in March that the flyover would be “gone within a year” said: “There are plenty of examples around the country and internationally where a demolition of this scale would take four or five years to plan and put through.