Huge housing deal as £120m committed to flagship regeneration

'SPECTACULAR' VISION FOR DERELICT WASTELAND NEAR QUAYSIDE

- By DANIEL HOLLAND

A £120m cash injection to kick-start a revamp of one of the most prominent pieces of derelict land in the North East has been hailed as “the beginning of something huge”.

The Government announced on Tuesday that it had signed off on a public funding package for the Quayside West development near Newcastle city centre.

That money will pay for the remediation of contaminated land on what was previously the home of the Calders leadworks, but has long been a disused wasteland seen every day by thousands of people crossing the Tyne by road or rail.

Some 1,100 homes are planned for the area, which is next to the Utilita Arena, though leaders have cautioned that the regeneration works could take 15 years to complete.

It is hoped that confirmation of the £121.8m deal, which will also fund demolition and clearance works at the site as well as access improvements, will attract a private developer to come on board.

Newcastle City Council leader Karen Kilgour told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the Quayside West plot, the largest parcel of land in the wider Forth Yards area to the west of the city centre, was “complicated” but could become a “huge success”.