Infrastructure investment for Northumberland with Labour
Infrastructure investment 2013-17 with Labour
● Having a county where everyone wants to live, work and visit also needs the right infrastructure. That’s why we’re investing the £238 million in delivering
things most people take for granted, like access to broadband, street lighting and roads, such as the Morpeth Bypass. We’re investing £30 million to build the new road, which will significantly reduce congestion around Morpeth and could inject around £50 million into the county’s economy once it is completed in late 2017.
● We have invested £370,000 in a much needed extension to car parking at Alnmouth Railway Station to alleviate congestion at and around the station and are supporting plans to expand parking at Morpeth station.
● More than 140,000 properties can now connect to fibre broadband and at least
91% of homes and businesses in Northumberland are streaming, downloading and uploading – with superfast speeds - thanks to £7 million in funding from the Council.
● We have invested £1.9 million to subsidise bus services, recognising the rural nature of our county, despite other councils no longer funding them.
● We have built a new £2.2 million bus station in Hexham which opened in November 2016 providing modern facilities for bus users including an enclosed waiting area, toilets, refreshment facilities and travel information. Work has also started on a mixed development on the existing bus station site at Priestpopple to allow a retail and residential scheme providing 31 apartments and five affordable homes and generating 126 jobs.
● We are investing £19 million this year to maintain and improve the roads and transport network.
● We supported Blyth and Northumberland Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in securing Coastal Community Team status, a programme that revives seaside towns and aims to bring jobs, growth and prosperity back to the area.
● Working with the Environment Agency, the £27.1 million (with a contribution from the Council of £12 million) Morpeth Flood Alleviation scheme was completed and officially opened in August 2015, protecting many properties from flooding. They were put into use in the storms in December 2015 and early 2016.
● Since the first green fibre street cabinet went live in January 2014 hundreds of kilometres of underground fibre optic cable has been laid and 219 new cabinets installed in what is one of the county’s largest civil engineering projects in recent years.
● More than 146,000 households and businesses in Northumberland are now able to connect to fibre broadband as a result of the Council’s £18.9 million iNorthumberland programme and BT’s commercial roll-out of the high-speed technology. Work is underway on the second phase of the roll-out with the first homes and businesses expected to be connected late summer following an additional £4.1 million investment, meaning fibre broadband speeds within reach of a further 3,700 homes and businesses across Northumberland by June 2017. The programme has won a number of awards including one for promoting digital inclusion and skills with a win at the Next Generation Digital Skills Awards.
● Following a restructure of NCC’s planning processes there has been a significant improvement. The percentage of major planning applications determined within target has risen from 45% in 2013/14 to 79% since last year, with minor planning applications rising from 53% to 69% in the same period in 2016. ‘Other’ planning applications, which include those from individuals or householders have also gone from 77% to 92%. Having greatly improved its overall performance the council is now focusing on improving its planning enforcement.
● We are in the final stage of preparing our Core Strategy – the Northumberland Local Plan - before it is submitted for review by a Government inspector. Still protecting more than 99% of Northumberland’s Green Belt, and only proposing boundary changes in exceptional circumstances the Plan will be submitted in March
