For five years the residents of Blyth have been bombarded by the rhetoric flowing from County Hall in Morpeth about how the Conservative administration is going to revive and more recently 'level up' Blyth Town Centre by building on its Town Square a part of which is its 'market place'.
The County Council's proposal to build a hotel on the bus station site and a culture centre, (whatever that is) on the Town Square site was the Conservatives answer to revive a Town which has suffered badly since 2010.
The raining down of austerity from successive Conservative Government's since 2010, made things much worse for Blyth with the Town being home to a huge number of public sector workers.
The public sector has suffered from pay freezes and well below inflation pay rises right through the last 12 years lowering the spending level in a town already suffering from average family incomes being 16% lower than the North-East region.
The plans and promises from Morpeth Conservatives have been badly hit by non-acceptance from property owners and businesses who believe the suggested way forward isn't for them and with Northumberland Estates, the owners of the Keel Row centre also being hit by the low level of available cash in the Town the down turn was thought to be endemic.
It looks like the Hotel proposal has been lost as the bus station owners do not want to change its use at a time the Government has decided to cut back on bus funding and fuel costs are being held artificially high to allow fuel tax to fill the Chancellors coffers.
The downturn is not new as the Town was slow in breaking through from its former heavy industry days and during 2016 the last Labour administration in charge at County Hall took the bold steps to buy the former massive and closed Co-op building on Waterloo Road and convert it into three large units.
This was an unmitigated success and although those shops have had various tenants since they have remained open for business.
Luckily for Blyth residents, local commercial landlords have begun a shops revival just as we are breaking out from the pandemic, led by local lad Martin Trinder who is modernising and letting commercial premises at an amazing rate so one can only presume he has a good price formula that allows businesses to flourish. Other commercial developers and landlords are following his lead and a Town revival is underway.
It may be time for Northumberland Conservatives to turn their attention to developing the Dun Cow Quay if a 'Culture Centre' is really required at all, and have the market run by a successful management company as the County Council have let it slide into almost oblivion and advertising to attract custom seems to be based on zero input from the Council.
Business and commerce is certainly improving the Town without the sticky fingers of Northumberland Conservatives being involved. So let's have a change of heart and help Blyth town centre improve and revive without your input.
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