The North East mayor says she is “absolutely supportive” of plans to build a new arena on the Gateshead Quayside – but has refused to commit to helping fund the long-delayed project.
Construction is yet to begin on a “world class” concert venue and international conference centre (ICC) on the south bank of the Tyne, years after the plans were approved.
Council bosses have argued that the scheme would bring in over a million visitors a year to Tyneside and generate a £70 million annual boost for the region’s economy.
But it has suffered from multiple setbacks as its costs have spiralled.
Building work had been due to start in autumn 2023 but, while the land between the Baltic art gallery and the the Glasshouse International Centre for Music has been cleared ready for the development, there has been no sign of it starting.
During a Q&A session in which she answered questions from members of the public this week, North East mayor Kim McGuinness said there was a “real determination to get the arena and conference centre delivered”.
However, the Labour mayor stopped short of pledging financial backing for the arena, which would be known as The Sage, to help cover its increased costs.
The estimated price tag for the project is known to have jumped from an original £260 million to more than £350 million, a figure that was given more than 18 months ago and is likely to have risen more since.
Asked if she believed The Sage will ever be built and what she would do as mayor to help it, Ms McGuinness said: “I think there is a real determination to get the arena and conference centre delivered. It is well documented that the whole Levelling Up project has failed, people have not seen the benefit of it, and the gap between North and South has grown in the time that the previous government talked about Levelling Up.
“The money they put in at times took so long to allocate that inflation overtook and it became really difficult to deliver those projects. I will work with Gateshead, absolutely, to try and get that project delivered.
“At the moment it sits with them, but I am absolutely supportive of anything that uplifts our region, grows our economy, creates jobs, and this is a great example.”
The North East Combined Authority (NECA) is giving an initial £25 million to another major North East development, the Crown Works film studios in Sunderland, and has plans to invest further into that project.
Both the Crown Works and the Sage have been described as “game changers” for the region’s culture, creative and tourism sectors by NECA.
When asked directly if she would be willing to fund the Sage in the same way as the Pallion film studios, Ms McGuinness replied: “I think [providing funding from NECA] is something we would need to look at on an as-and-when basis. We aren’t there yet.”
The 12,500-capacity arena and ICC were among the first beneficiaries of the devolution deal which established NECA and the new mayor, with a £3.5 million contribution signed off in January this year, while the scheme has also been given £5 million from the North East Local Enterprise Partnership and £20 million from the Tory Government’s Levelling Up Fund.
Gateshead Council told the Local Democracy Reporting Service in June that it hoped to give an update on the development’s progress “later in the summer” but has not made any public announcement on it since.
