North East Mayor Kim McGuinness has admitted plans to revitalise struggling high streets across the region are progressing more slowly than she had hoped.
Speaking at a meeting of the North East Mayoral Authority’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Ms McGuinness acknowledged that efforts to boost town centres had not moved at the pace many residents expected.
She said: “It has not moved as quickly as I would have liked or other people would have liked.”
The Labour mayor pledged during her 2024 election campaign to establish a High Streets Commission tasked with developing new ideas to breathe life back into town centres and village high streets. The commission first met in November last year.
However, Ms McGuinness said she was more focused on delivering meaningful long-term change than pursuing quick fixes. She pointed to plans to relocate South Tyneside College to a new campus in South Shields town centre as the type of ambitious project she wants to see replicated elsewhere.
Describing the move as the kind of “big thinking” needed to transform high streets, she argued that smaller cosmetic improvements alone would not solve deeper challenges facing town centres.
The mayor said she had encouraged the commission to “think bigger”, suggesting future investment could focus on major interventions in a smaller number of locations rather than spreading funding more widely.
South Shields is currently the only location publicly identified as part of those discussions.
Addressing councillors, Ms McGuinness said: “We could have gone to a couple of run-down places and put a bit of investment into a couple of shops or looked at street furniture and all those things. But I think we have seen that all done before by various rounds of central government funding for high streets that have not really scratched the surface.”
Responding to questions from Newcastle Green Party leader Nick Hartley, she defended the pace of progress. “I make no apology for the fact it has not been fast and loose,” she said.
“I would rather it was done properly and that we get it right over a period of time.”
The discussion also highlighted concerns about empty and neglected buildings in town centres.
Durham cllr John Cook, who chairs the scrutiny committee, raised concerns about vacant properties in Stanley and called for local authorities to have stronger powers to bring problem buildings back into use. He said many residents wrongly assume councils have direct control over town centres.
“There is frustration that we don’t own the town centre in the way residents think we do,” he said.
Ms McGuinness also criticised absentee landlords, accusing some property owners of allowing shopping precincts to deteriorate while continuing to profit from them.
She called for compulsory sale orders that could force owners to sell neglected properties.
The mayor said: “The idea that some of these shopping precincts are left to go to wrack and ruin by people who have probably never even been there, slowly devaluing them so the public gets no benefit out of them, is absolutely maddening.”
She argued that stronger powers would help local leaders regenerate town centres and support businesses struggling with declining footfall and vacant units.
