Retail plans include a cut price store near to the centre of town
AN out-of-town retail park with around half a dozen shops and a budget supermarket could be built off Gateshead’s Felling bypass.
Developers have mooted the idea of a discount supermarket and other shops on the site of the old railway sidings.
There is currently a disused indoor skatepark on the site, which developers say has been on the market for around 15 years.
Now, people are being asked to have their say on plans for around 8,500 square metres of retail or food and beverage units, 2,000 square metres of which is to be a discount foodstore for a cut-price provider such as Aldi or Lidl.
For context, the Galleries retail park at Washington has around 13,000 square metres of shops and Silverlink has around 23,000 square metres of retail and leisure units.
Fintry Estates says the plans would represent an £8.6m investment in the area and meet demand on the east side of Gateshead.
On the plan’s website, developers said: “Gateshead is currently served by a range of retail and leisure developments, including those within the Town Centre, at the Metrocentre and at Retail World (Team Valley).
“However, with the exception of a number of freestanding foodstores and other smaller shops, which meet only day to day needs, provision on the eastern side of Gateshead is limited.
“There is also a need to provide accommodation for retail and leisure operators who are either not represented in the area or require additional stores/units.
“This could include operators who have been displaced from existing destinations in Gateshead.”
The new development will sit just half a mile from Gateshead Town Centre and a ten-minute walk from Gateshead’s Trinity Square, where a number of retail units already stand empty.
A public consultation will run until June 11 to get people’s opinions on the site.
Information is available online at http://www.albanyregeneration. co.uk.
It is hoped that a planning application will be submitted this summer, and if granted, work would begin next year with the site opening for business in 2020.