Funding agreed for world-class new North East arena as mayor promises to rid area of 'eyesore'

North East mayor Kim McGuinness and council leaders formally signed off on a £24 million investment which it is hoped will pave the way for a world class concert venue in the heart of Tyneside.

Hopes of delivering a major arena and conference centre development on the south bank of the Tyne have been plagued by years of setbacks and delays, as costs spiralled due to factors including the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

After the mayor’s office stepped in last year to mount a review of the regeneration scheme, it is now set to be redrawn to focus on a 12,500-15,000 capacity arena built to attract the world’s biggest stars.

The £24 million boost agreed by the North East Combined Authority cabinet will be spent on infrastructure works that will “derisk” the scheme for private investors, as well as the creation of an open-air performance square next to the Glasshouse and an urban park connecting the riverside to the Baltic Quarter.

The international conference centre idea looks set to be dropped from the designs.

Ms McGuinness told colleagues at a meeting at South Shields FC’s 1st Cloud Arena on Tuesday that the work would prevent the prominent site, nestled in between the Glasshouse and the Baltic art gallery, from being a vacant “eyesore” and that locals would be able to enjoy the new park while the arena work continues.

The Labour mayor added: “We should never be missing out on events like the Brits and Eurovision because we simply don’t have the space. I think we are all sick of waiting and it is time to get on with it.”

Previously, the idea had been to replace the Utilita Arena in Newcastle with a modern venue on the other side of the Tyne. The existing site’s owner-operator was on board to operate the Gateshead site.

However, the situation is now less clear – with four potential operators said to be interested in running the proposed new arena.

Utilita Arena owner Legends Global has plans to invest £65 million to upgrade the 1990s-built facility and would be faced with a big decision over its future if the Gateshead venue does finally come to fruition, whether it becomes the operator or not.

Gateshead’s Liberal Democrat opposition had previously called for the arena vision to be abandoned due to the lack of progress.

The group’s leader, Ron Beadle, told a Civic Centre meeting earlier on Tuesday that the latest promises “would be more believable if we had not heard this for the past nine years”.

He added: “Basically, our position is we will believe it when we see. It is about putting the cart before the horse.

“We have already spent £23 million of public money, not Gateshead council tax money, but public money on a car park. We are now spending £24 million on getting the flooring right, that’s £47 million on what at the moment doesn’t have a signature, does not have a partner and has been going on for nine years.

“I am perfectly happy to say that I would like to be wrong, but after nine years I don’t think we are.”

Developer Ask:PATRIZIA does remain on board with the scheme, though a private investor-operator must now be found for the proposed arena.

The town’s Labour leader, Martin Gannon, said: “I know people have been frustrated, there has been a really extreme set of external circumstances which has made it really difficult to deliver this project. What is reassuring, having gone through this exercise with the mayor and the combined authority, is there has been an incredibly rigorous examination of the viability and the market for this kind of project.

“It has gone through three separate stages, for us that was frustrating because that took almost a year. But it has reached a very strong conclusion, sufficient so that the combined authority has agreed to make a substantial financial contribution to prepare the site.”