North-east spatial strategy threatens Newcastle pathfinder

Development plans on the borders of Newcastle’s pathfinder could scupper the market renewal project, a parliamentary inquiry heard on Monday.

A senior Audit Commission official told the ODPM inquiry into empty homes and low demand that the North-east’s draft regional spatial strategy, compiled by the regional assembly, could harm the success of the Newcastle Gateshead pathfinder.

Mike Maunder, the commission’s head of housing markets, told the committee: “The area that gives us most cause for concern at the moment in terms of the draft regional spatial strategy would be in the North-east.

“There is too much development outside the pathfinder area, whether it is on green or brownfield sites, that will compete with what the pathfinder is trying to achieve.”

He feared that development on the fringes of the pathfinder would exacerbate the tendency of people to move out of the area.

Consultation on the North-east regional spatial strategy closed last month and the regional assembly is due to submit the strategy to the ODPM at the end of March.

The draft calls for 110,000 new dwellings by 2021 but admits “local authorities and assembly members from Tyne & Wear consider a lower regional housing provision figure of around 100,000 additional new dwellings would be more appropriate to ensure the success of the pathfinder”.

John Carleton, field director for the North at the Housing Corporation, said the strategy broadly supported the aims of the pathfinder but added the number of planning permissions granted on the fringes of the pathfinder could cause a problem if they were all fulfilled.

Malcolm Bowes, assistant director for regional development at the North-east assembly, said: “One of the debates is where you strike the balance between a better economy and … a successful pathfinder.

“In our view, we have got the balance right.”

The news came as Tees Valley Living, one of three new smaller market renewal bodies granted a share of £65m of ODPM funding last month, unveiled its housing market assessment.

The report says the area faces a 2.4% population decline by 2023, rising to 15% in Middlesbrough. It suggests a moratorium on development in some areas to stop the exodus of people from the pathfinder area.