Billingham Town Centre Update

Billingham Town Centre Update

A crucial report is to be presented to Stockton’s Labour Council leadership next week about the future of Billingham Town Centre.

We are happy to see that we have successfully pushed to ensure that Billingham residents will finally get a say with public “engagement” to agree on a total new town centre masterplan.

We share your immense frustration at just how long this process has taken under this dragging Labour administration. Years have been wasted, the old masterplan has been thrown straight in the bin, and the Council is now starting completely from scratch to design a brand-new one.

While we desperately need a vibrant town centre, the independent financial reports reveal some shocking financial mismanagement from Stockton's Labour leadership that residents deserve to know about before the consultation starts:

• The Funding U-Turn: Labour has quietly ditched their plan to use £10 million in prudential borrowing to buy back to the town centre – something they agreed to do before levelling up funding was even available to bid on. Instead, they are entirely relying on a £10 million capital grant from the Ben Houchen and the Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) to rescue the project.
• Missing £5 Million: There is absolutely no mention of the £5 million contribution that Labour explicitly promised as part of their original Levelling Up Fund bid. It has completely vanished from the financial papers.
• Proceeding Blindly: The Labour leadership seems perfectly happy to proceed with this major acquisition without prior public consultation, without an agreed masterplan, and without a complete, finalised business case in place, agreeing on the private owner’s terms and letting them escape the cost of their own neglected maintenance.
• Buying a Negative Asset: The Council's own valuer, Knight Frank, priced the site at minus £11.64 million due to neglected infrastructure. There are many other fluctuating valuations, but Labour is pressing ahead to give private owner evolve their £13 million asking price (while inheriting a further £6.5 million in immediate repair backlogs)
• The Lease Timebomb: With 27 tenant lease events looming before January 2028, Labour councils chaotic handling risks turning the centre into a ghost town before regeneration even starts.
  Like you, we want a revitalised Billingham, and will do all we can and work with all parties to see this happen, but as we have always said, it’s not about what we think - its about what you think

You can attend the Cabinet meeting in person at Dunedin House in Thornaby (Wednesday 4th November at 5pm) or you can watch the Stockton Council Live Stream.

What are your thoughts? What would you like to see in our town centre?