Nick Brown MP

Nick meeting Housing Minister John Healey together with Byker Councillors and residents

Nick Brown has promised to find a way forward for refurbishments to the Byker Wall after Newcastle City Council’s bid for PFI funding was rejected.

The Council had applied for PFI cash from the Homes and Community Agency to help fund a £210m revamp of the Byker Wall. But a letter from Housing Minister John Healey to Nick said: “In the criteria issued, the Government made it clear that the programme would have a bias toward projects that were seeking to transform areas through a significant amount of demolition and provision of new build.

“The recommendation that I have received from the HCA is that the bid submitted by Newcastle City Council was not considered a strong candidate as it didn’t fully comply with the criteria set.”

Nick Brown said the council’s bid should never have been submitted. Given everything that has gone wrong with the City Council’s Walker Regeneration programme, Nick was concerned that the Council were bidding on a programme for Byker that was partly about demolition. Demand for homes in Byker is high, and Nick is certain we can find a better way forward.

He said: “I’ve never seen anything so doomed to failure in all my time in public service. It’s not compliant with the criteria. This round of funding was designed for schemes involving large-scale demolition and rebuild, which isn’t appropriate for the Byker estate. They’ve tried to piggyback on a scheme with a bid that they knew wasn’t suitable.

“The people of Byker deserve better and I’m going to make sure they get it.”

At Nick’s request, and following a meeting with Nick, Byker councillors and local residents, the Housing Minister Mr Healey has personally intervened to create a task force to work on improvements for Byker. He has commissioned the HCA to come up with a plan to work with Your Homes Newcastle, English Heritage, and councillors and people in Byker, to revamp the area and report back to him in six months.