500 Cambois homes may go in area masterplan

Posted by Simon Honeysett on Oct 29, 08 02:49 PM in News

UP to 500 homes could be demolished as part of a multi-million-pound regeneration project aimed at safeguarding the future of a Northumberland seaside village.

Cambois

The houses in the neighbouring communities of Cambois and North Blyth are at risk of being bulldozed under a development masterplan which would transform the area forever - and effectively create a new village.

The project would involve the demolition of about 84 homes in North Blyth together with 400 more on estates next to the site of the now-demolished Blyth Power Station in Cambois.

About 500 replacement homes would be built on land elsewhere in Cambois, together with a further 500 new houses, in a bid to draw together the scattered former mining community and create a sustainable new village.

The masterplan being developed by Wansbeck Council comes as RWE npower is planning a £2bn clean-coal power station near the site of the old generating plant.

Yesterday worried residents called for early decisions on whether the massive overhaul is going to take place, claiming the uncertainty and rumour is putting a blight on the community and hampering efforts to sell their houses.

They believe the demolition plans are linked to the proposed power station scheme, which would be built close to existing homes in Cambois and is scheduled to become operational by 2014 if approved.

Now residents are calling on the council to carry out urgent public consultations on the future of the village, where a recent bid by the Banks Group to develop a 5,000-home eco-town failed to be selected by the Government.

Details of the development masterplan emerged at a recent meeting between the council and local community groups, after residents had sought clarification about the way forward.

Alan Young, 68, and his wife Shirley, 66, have lived in Wilson Avenue, Cambois, opposite the former power station site, for more than 30 years, and are currently trying to sell their home.

Yesterday Mr Young said: "All of this has left us completely in limbo, and we feel our legs have been kicked away from under us. No one can tell us whether this demolition programme is definitely going to happen, or give us any timescale.

"House sales have been falling through here recently and we put it down to all the uncertainty. We don't have any problems with the idea of a new power station, but we need answers quickly on what is going to happen to our houses."

Neighbour Joy Kay, 60, a retired rehabilitation worker at Morpeth Cottage Hospital, who also has her house up for sale, said: "Who is going to buy these houses when there is even a sniff of them having to come down? This uncertainty has put a blight on the area.

"We need a decision within the next 12 months on whether these houses are going to be demolished or not."

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