High streets, parks, and other community facilities in some of Newcastle’s most deprived areas are set to benefit from investment that could total more than £40 million over the next decade.

Walker, Elswick, Byker, and Benwell are among the locations earmarked for cash from the Government’s Pride in Place programme.

City council leaders agreed to accept funding on Monday evening that will see up to £20 million pumped into both Elswick South and Walker North over the next 10 years.

The shops at the Church Walk Centre in Walker, which are due for demolition | LDRS

placeholder image — The shops at the Church Walk Centre in Walker, which are due for demolition | LDRS

A Neighbourhood Board will be set up in each area to pull together a regeneration plan and decide how to spend that money.

A report presented to Newcastle City Council’s cabinet on Monday evening said the funding could be targeted to projected delivering “better community cohesion, improved public realm, green spaces and public infrastructure, improved access to local services, health provision and art and culture activities, reduced barriers to skills, employment and entrepreneurship”.

Labour council leader Karen Kilgour said the Pride in Place, which totals £5 billion across the country, scheme was “one of the most significant opportunities for community-led regeneration that Newcastle has seen in a decade”.

Newcastle is also getting a further £1.5 million from the Pride in Place Impact Fund, which will be spent on “quick wins” between now and March 2027.

The largest allocation of that pot will go to Adelaide Terrace in Benwell, where £650,000 will be spent on improvements to up to four street-ends which the council said will “improve safety, add greenery and offer spaces for people to meet, rest, participate in events and for children and young people to play”.

£300,000 will be spent on Byker’s Harbottle Park, where a new pump track and outdoor gym equipment will be installed.

Benwell’s Hodgkin Park will also get £150,000 for fitness equipment, while the remaining £400,000 will be used to open a grant scheme for organisations that manage community facilities across the city to bid for funds for repairs, extensions, energy efficiency upgrades, and other improvements.

Coun Kilgour added: “Together, these programmes represent a major investment in people, place, and community infrastructure. Long-term, stable investment is exactly what communities need and have been calling for, this programme finally provides that.”