Plea for Newcastle general hospital regeneration to have real benefits for West End communities

Work began last year on Newcastle University’s transformation of the site into the ‘Health Innovation Neighbourhood’ (HIN), a project that is the first of its kind in the UK and is aimed at reimagining community services to meet the challenges of an ageing population.

The development, a joint venture with Genr8 Kajima Regeneration, will include specialist housing for people living with dementia and traumatic injuries, research labs, NHS and other health-related facilities, transport hubs, and shops all located within one neighbourhood.

It is hoped that the 1,250-home scheme could become a national exemplar, but a councillor has warned that it must deliver improvements for surrounding communities along Westgate Road rather than just the people who end up living on the redeveloped hospital land.

Greg Stone said on Monday that he remembered promises of a “regeneration corridor” through the West End that it had been hoped would be sparked by the building of the Helix science and business park on the old Scottish & Newcastle brewery, which critics have argued feels too detached from its West End neighbours.

Speaking at a meeting of Newcastle City Council’s economy, jobs, and skills scrutiny committee, the Liberal Democrat urged local authority bosses to ensure that the HIN is better integrated.

Coun Stone said: “I have always had a question in my mind of whether we are doing enough. I know we concentrate on the business and development, but it has always been billed as there being benefits for Arthur’s Hill and the Westgate area. We have to do what we can to drive that.

“It is a work in progress on the Helix still but more so on the General Hospital site, thinking about how we can spread that regeneration into some of the deprived communities around it.”

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He added: “I have been around Helix long enough to know that it is a long-term process. It can take a decade or 20 years from the original vision to actually see the benefit on the ground in communities.”

Matt Wilton, the council’s deputy chief executive, said decision-makers were “very mindful” of the HIN’s potential and said its aims of providing a new vision of health and ageing offered a “distinctive opportunity to knit the development into the surrounding area”.

Mr Wilton replied: “What we don’t want is to rush and miss that opportunity. It does mean getting that cocktail of development uses right and understanding what those communities will benefit most from, while acknowledging that there are things like development viability that need to be considered.”