Mr Dickinson said: “By incorporating a new bus station with the ‘one-stop services’ venture, it is hoped that potential footfall for the town businesses would triple.”

Hexham: Council hub will bring cash and jobs to town

By BRIAN TILLEY

Hexham Courant

Published at 07:41, Wednesday, 24 July 2013

DESPITE scepticism from local Tories, the Labour administration at County Hall insists it is on course to breathe new life into Hexham town centre.

And the neglected Hexham bus station remains the preferred site for a service hub designed to bring up to 70 local authority jobs back to the town.

Officials believe that re-locating council services back in the town centre in a one-stop shop could lead to a £50m cash injection into the local economy through more localised procurement of some contracts and through the spending power of hundreds of potential new customers.

A detailed feasibility study will take place over the summer into how best the council can re-establish a presence in Hexham.

A key figure in the scheme will be the authority’s soon-to-be-appointed director for neighbourhood services, with re-focusing operations in the town one of the top priorities.

Already on the case is the council’s new business manager Scott Dickinson, who said this week: “We want to get on with our plans to breathe new life into our town centres and it’s clear that Hexham will benefit from this very simple economic stimulus.

“That’s why one of the first jobs of the new director will be to ‘model’ how we can best use council resources efficiently and effectively, taking into account the considerable spending power the council can wield.

“Town centres have struggled under the double whammy of decamped council services and a significant and prolonged recession and we’re determined to help where we can.”

It’s no secret that the council has been looking closely at the old bus station site as a potential location for an array of council services – as well as giving the rundown site a much-needed facelift.

A number of schemes have been advanced over the years to redevelop the bus station site, but all have foundered because of failure to reach agreement with the multiple owners of properties in the bus station area.

But the council is now hinting, for the first time, that if agreement cannot be reached with owners, it may invoke compulsory purchase powers.

Mr Dickinson said: “The bus station is in a strategic location, but it’s also somewhat problematic given some of the key surrounding sites are not owned by the authority and will require negotiation.

“That said, the authority does have an array of potential powers that can assist in driving economic development.

“We would want to include the town council as a key player in the area.”

The incoming Labour administration has acknowledged that “centralising” services at County Hall has contributed towards the decline of the town centre.

Preliminary studies looking at the impact of this development on the town centre have indicated increased footfall and higher potential revenue yields for existing and new businesses.

Mr Dickinson said: “By incorporating a new bus station with the ‘one-stop services’ venture, it is hoped that potential footfall for the town businesses would triple.”

Published by http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk