Leader's blog - Tuesday 22 July

Highlights

• Town Centre Regeneration: Flyover demolition and High Street redevelopment underway, with new ambassadors and partnerships to improve the area.
• Community Safety: Launch of Town Centre Watch Scheme to enhance safety and enforcement through collaboration with police, council, and businesses.
• Summer Events: Pride Festival and other events planned across August, especially in Baltic Square, to bring vibrancy back to the town centre.
• Environmental Improvements: Increased funding for tackling fly-tipping, littering, and improving cleanliness, despite financial challenges.
• Public Engagement: Electoral registration and resident surveys to gather feedback on council services

Transcript

Hello everyone and thank you for taking the time to listen to this broadcast.

I want to very, very quickly take you through and update you on a number of exciting things that are happening in Gateshead over the next few months.

OK, first and foremost the town centre. There's a number of initiatives taking place there. We know that the demolition of the flyover will start very shortly and we need to get that concluded before the end of this financial year.

We've also working with the groups in the town centre. We've got a number of organisations involved including: We're appointing new ambassadors through the town centre, working with local businesses, supporting those to make the town centre much better.

We're also in the process of acquiring the south end of the High Street, the majority of which we have already acquired and you'll see demolitions taking place there and hopefully in the very near future when we restart, we'll be starting the redevelopment of the south end of the High Street.

So really exciting improvements taking place in central Gateshead.

As I've already said, there's a lot of work going on in the town centre, but we also have started a town centre watch scheme which is bringing together all of the public sector partners along with businesses in the town centre. Police, the council, everybody working to improve the quality of an enforcement in the town centre.

So, you know, I'm sure that you will have already noticed a significant improvement, but that work is ongoing, and what we intend to do is to make Gateshead a place where people feel safe and where the environment is welcoming, and we'll put that as our top priority.

Second point I want to cover is activities that we'll be involved in this summer. There's a range of events we have. I'm very proud of the fact that we have a Pride festival taking place throughout August. There'll be a number of events, you'll see those on the council's website and we're also having events down on Baltic Square.

So there's a whole range of events which the council is supporting, working with a number of organisations to try and bring life back into the town centre - not the Gateshead Quays.

Could I also keep you updated about the improvements that we are making in what we call environmental services.

That's about trying to improve, you know sort of enforcement, to try and stop fly tipping, deal with littering, making sure the back lanes are clear, improving the quality of the environment that is Gateshead.

We have significant, you know, the difficult financial background to this.

The council's budgets have been massively reduced, but in really difficult times we've managed to find additional money, £2 million last year and then on top of that, an additional £1,000,000 this year, which has significantly increased the size of the team - which has meant that we can significantly improve the quality of the work we're carrying out. We're working with residents association and voluntary organisations as well.

And I'm hoping that you will - I mean, first of all, you will have already seen a significant improvement, but it's something which we are going to keep on top of. We'll work harder to make Gateshead a better place for people to live, work and enjoy.

Two further points to cover very quickly.

We're carrying out a number of surveys and canvases at the moment.

First of all, of course, there are elections next year and anyone who wants to take part in those need to register on the register of electors.

And there's a survey, there's a canvass taking place to make sure that people are provided with opportunity and need, if necessary, to update their application for a postal vote. You need to ensure that you've filled in the application for a postal vote.

We'll do all that. We'll send stuff out to people we will carry out the canvass but I'm encouraging everybody, regardless of who you vote for, it's the opportunity you have more powerfully than any other to pass your opinion on how Gateshead Council is run.

Second survey that we're conducting at the present time, and it's some years since we've done it because of austerity, because of shortage of funding, but we're carrying out a survey about the quality of the services that we provide.

So there's a resident survey taking place. It'll ask your views on, you know, the range of services that we provide. We want your honest feedback about whether we're doing a good job or not and how we can seek to improve those services. So that'll be online, there'll be paper surveys, you'll seek access. 

You can see those advertised in council buildings, libraries, that sort of thing, please take part in those.

And Gateshead Council is your council. You know, this is a public body. It's not the council's money, it's your money and the services that we provide are for the people of Gateshead.

So my final message is, you know, if you think that we are doing things wrong, if you think there are ways in which we can improve our services, if you think there are things that we should be doing that we're not doing, maybe we haven't got the resources to do it right.

But you know, please tell us, you know, give us your ideas. Give us, you know, your ideas how things can be improved. Don't sit back.

Please get in touch either contact me directly or into the council's Facebook mailbox. Let us know and we'll give you a response to your questions.