Coun. Trevor Cessford, who represents the Hexham Central ward, said: “It’s refreshing to know that, after almost five years of going to meetings with the county council with Coun. Homer and not getting anywhere, we are finally being listened to.”
Deputy Mayor of Hexham, Coun. Bob Hull, said it was encouraging that the county council had found capital to deal with Hexham’s concerns.
County councillor for Hexham West, Derek Kennedy, welcomed the progress with the bunker site, but questioned how the town would function if work to build a multi-storey at Wentworth was progressed.
“How could you build that and continue to provide the space which would service the parking needs of the town?” he said.
“I welcome this progress, but I am disappointed that options such as building a multi-storey on the Arch-owned Tyne Valley Retail Park, or at the hospital don’t appear to have been explored.
“Surely Arch could look at purchasing the old bus station site, which has effectively been land banked by Dysart, and create some kind of shopping area and car park there.”
Other proposals in the action plan drawn up to relieve pressure on spaces in Hexham in the short term include removing HGV parking from Wentworth to increase capacity and imposing a 24-hour maximum stay on long stay spaces.
Establishing whether retailers, including Aldi and M&S, would be willing to convert under-utilised sections of their car parks for long stay parking is also recommended.
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