MenuThis morning Northumberland County Council announced:
‘Proposals for the development of a new small business village on the harbour-side at Amble have taken a major step forward with the announcement that the project has secured £1.8million of grant funding from the UK Government’s Coastal Communities Fund.
Centred on the town’s seafood industry, the project has been drawn up by Northumberland County Council in partnership with Amble Development Trust, Amble Town Council, business representatives and the wider community of Amble.
It aims to transform Amble into a visitor destination excelling in seafood; attracting new visitors, creating jobs and helping to sustain the wider economy of the area.
The proposals include opening up and enhancing the harbour and waterfront and working with local businesses, including the fishing community, food retail outlets and other waterfront and town centre businesses, to create a distinctive local seafood offer.
Key aspects of the project include:
- The creation of a new ‘harbour village’ comprising 15 new small business ‘huts’ and a seafood centre;
- Creation of a new waterside promenade linking the harbour, marina area and Braid – in turn connecting through to a Sustrans cycle route;
- Improvement at Leazes Street of the physical connection between the existing Town Square and harbour village, leading on to other quayside areas beyond;
- Relocation of the Coquet Shorebase Trust to provide new and improved access to the waterside along with creating a new harbour-side development site on the site of the old Shorebase Trust buildings;
- The establishment of a ‘seafood broker’ post, to add value to the catch landed by the fishing fleet at Amble and other coastal communities in Northumberland;
- The establishment of a harbour village market co-ordinator post, to manage and promote the delivery of the harbour village including the development of a marketing plan linked to wider initiatives by Northumberland Tourism; and
- The establishment of a training and skills programme.
The £2.5 million project was awarded conditional planning approval in October 2013, and after this award from the Coastal Communities Fund the majority of funding required for the project is in place’.
Commenting on this announcement, Mayor of Amble, Craig Weir said ‘We as a community are delighted by the announcement of this very welcome funding to progress in the regeneration of Amble.
Amble has had a difficult economic downturn recently and this Harbour Village Project is the start of number of programmes to raise the profile of Amble and producing much needed local jobs .
We would also like to thank the NCC team led by Cameron Scott and Tim Kirton who have overcome a number of difficulties to produce this result. They could not have worked without the efforts of Julia Aston from Amble Development Trust and a number of business/community groups.
This is a great example of a community working together and I am sure we will continue to do so. The future is looking good for our Town’.