'It feels like it is just doom and gloom and it's because we have not got a solid plan'

COUNCIL bosses have been urged to act fast to lift the “doom and gloom” around a struggling North East high street.

- By DANIEL HOLLAND

As the demolition of the closed Gateshead Flyover nears, businesses and residents around the neighbouring Gateshead High Street are pleading for help to breathe fresh life into the area.

It has long been hoped that the removal of the crumbling concrete flyover could pave the way for a wider regeneration, with the council saying earlier this month that it wanted to “create a bigger, more inclusive community in this part of Gateshead, with accessible public spaces, safe walkable streets, and green areas”.

But there has been talk of such a redevelopment since 2008 and the project remains unfunded, while council plans for a £90m revamp of the high street were unveiled in 2019 but have subsequently been delayed and downsized.

Locals who are desperate for change fear that many cannot afford to keep waiting for jam tomorrow, in a part of town that has had to cope with the flyover crisis, the closure of the former Davy Roll steel plant and major flooding to the Priory Court tower block in the last 12 months.

Andy Redfern, who runs the Green Heart preloved fashion store with wife Helen, told The Chronicle: “When you talk to people at the council, they talk about things in five or ten years’ time - fair enough, the council needs to do that. Unfortunately, that is not the reality for people here.

“These are little businesses struggling for customers today, we cannot think about five or ten-year timescales. What has happened in this little bit of Gateshead in the last year or so is astonishing.”