Prudhoe Town Centre Regeneration through the East Site

Alan Gerono

Innovation Associate

Overview

The aim of this project is to redevelop a redundant school (the East site) to address the needs of young people living in Prudhoe, whilst supporting the wider growth and development of the town centre. East site redevelopment is integral to town centre regeneration largely because of its location on the east end of Front Street, which is a ‘gateway’ location and an opportunity to give a new focus for social, education and business activity in the heart of the town.

The Prudhoe Community Partnership (PCP) is leading this project, with support from Community Action Northumberland (CAN), the Rural Design Centre Innovation Project (RDCIP) and many other community partners (see below).

Outcomes

Following initial stakeholder engagement, a project brief was conceived by PCP in September 2021. The design brief describes the needs of the main users of the future facilities and emphasises low running costs and, in particular, sustainable, low energy input.

The RDCIP offered support by running a community design challenge. This resulted in the engagement of an architect to develop initial concepts for the East site.

Creating design concepts helped engage local business owners and community organisations to participate and co-develop a vision for how they would like to see Prudhoe evolve as a place to live, work and visit.

Wide public consultation on eight design concepts took place from January to February 2022. Interest was high, and two favoured options emerged. Northumberland County Council reaffirmed its ‘in principle’ agreement to community asset transfer of the site.

PCP is now completing a funding package in order to carry out a technical feasibility study and more advanced designs.

Project partnerships continue to take shape. Two local youth groups, one of which is for young people with autism (Happy Faces), the other general needs (Prudhoe Youth Project) have recently been joined by a local school for students with autism and learning difficulties (Collingwood School). The school’s objective is to establish sixth form / life-skills / employment support activities at the new facility.

Wider town centre regeneration is still very much part of the project brief, and the final design will create opportunities for community events, training and employment.

Next steps

Looking beyond the forthcoming feasibility study and design drawings, the initial business plan needs to be revisited and funding for construction needs to be considered.

The project described above has synergy with the aims of the Borderlands Place Programme, and PCP will be linking its ambitions for the East site with the broader regeneration of the town centre. Mixed funding is the favoured approach, however, and an expression of interest has already been lodged with a major grant fund.

Conclusion

From the onset, this project has sought to locate site-specific, and user requirements within the setting of wider town centre regeneration. PCP has a clear vision that the rural town centre of the future needs to reflect changing shopping trends, recreational, employment and environmental needs. The opportunity to address these issues, at least in part, is presented at the East site. To ensure that partners and the community in general see this link, considerable effort is being made to communicate progress and to influence strategic thinking and planning.