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The magazine for Aycliffe Business Park | 11
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Councillor’ s £ 350k bid to bring‘ The Loco’ back to life
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Newton Aycliffe councillor has launched an ambitious £ 350,000 crowdfunding bid to buy the dilapidated Locomotion No. 1 pub and bring it back to life.
Great Aycliffe Town independent councillor Paul Symons wants to save the historic pub, known affectionately as‘ The Loco’, which has been closed for nearly two years and twice failed to sell at auction recently.
The Grade II-listed Locomotion – valued at £ 210,000 by its owners – needs a complete refurbishment and re-wiring after the building was subjected to vandals and thefts.
But Cllr Symons has launched an audacious attempt to raise £ 350,000 through crowdfunding to first buy the building, and then restore it to a family venue and restaurant.
The Locomotion sits opposite the platform of Heighington train station, on Aycliffe Business Park, which dates back almost 200 years.
It’ s where George Stephenson’ s first steam locomotive was assembled to run on the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825.
It’ s also just yards away from Hitachi Rail Europe’ s new £ 82m factory, opened in
The major development to increase the size of Aycliffe Business Park with a huge 55- acre site, including a pub and restaurant, has taken another big step forward.
A developer has been assigned to build Forrest Park, which is said could create more than 3,000 jobs and boost the economy by £ 495m in little over a decade.
As revealed by Aycliffe Today in January, developers revealed that consultations with developers was under way and an outline planning application was close to being finalised.
Richardson Barberry has now been selected to deliver the proposed expansion, which will include more than 1.75 million sq ft of business and industrial units and the potential to accommodate a rail freight interchange.
Richardson Barberry has signed an agreement as retained development partner with Forrest Park Newton Aycliffe – a joint venture between the Forrest family and Durham County Council – and a planning application is about to be submitted to the local authority.
September 2015, where the Japanese firm is building our trains of the future, bringing train manufacturing back to its native North-East.
Cllr Symons says the pub has vast potential because of its historical significance – with the Darlington-Stockton bicentennial coming up in seven years – and is determined to save it.
The 39-year-old father-of-one told Aycliffe Today:“ It’ s such a shame to see it how it is. We have a major historical building here and it can be used for all sorts of things.
“ Our main objective is to get the building – it will take some time to get it back up to standards, maybe 12-18 months – and get it back for the community.
“ The business park and Aycliffe as a town have both grown on a massive scale in recent years and it is only going to grow further, with more housing developments and huge expansion plans for the business park.
“ With the bicentennial of the Darlington- Stockton railway line approaching, I think there’ s huge potential for the Locomotion.”
To donate to Cllr Symons’ campaign, visit www. crowdfunder. co. uk / refurbishment-of-ahistorical-train-station
Pub and restaurant planned for Forrest Park
The proposals include a range of business, industrial and distribution units varying in size from 30,000 sq ft to 500,000 sq ft, a trade park consisting of 11 units from 5,000 sq ft to 10,000 sq ft, and ancillary amenity uses including roadside food offerings, a public house and restaurant.
Forrest Park – which has attracted £ 13m funding from the Local Enterprise Partnership – could create 3,200 jobs and deliver a gross value added( GVA) economic boost to the area of £ 495m over the next 10 to 15 years. A planning decision is expected later this year.
JOIN BUSINESS WATCH
In my role as a Police Community Support Officer( PCSO) with the Aycliffe Neighbourhood Police Team, we’ re inviting companies to get involved in a new Business Watch initiative for Aycliffe Business Park.
Crimes against local businesses affect us all as they have to pass on the cost of these crimes to their customers. Durham Constabulary is working with local businesses to deal with these crimes.
Business Watch is crime reduction initiative that shares information on local business issues.
Our aim is to help reduce business crime and disorder by keeping you informed about crime in your area. You can also have a say and influence local policing.
By joining Business Watch you will receive free updates on crime trends that are occurring in and around your area and messages about the latest scams that could effect your business, be able to report information direct to us and track the responses and updates and have access to local crime information and reports.
Crime prevention measures for businesses isn’ t that different to residential security. We would always advise people to report all suspicious activity to the police. But there are lots of simple steps you can take to improve the security around your business premises.
We’ d advise business to always check your land perimeter as well as your building. If your property and security look unloved, then you become a target, so look at your cameras. Do they look like dummy cameras?
Try to get into good habits of checking your security equipment on a daily or weekly basis, and make sure they’ re serviced regularly.
We’ d also suggest having appropriate signage up to make it clear to people what kind of security measures you have in place.
Implement removal is also an easy way to deter thieves. Don’ t leave things lying around that can assist thieves in either gaining access or taking items from your property, such as ladders, bins, pallets and concrete slabs.
Anyone interested in joining the Aycliffe Business Watch programme can drop me an email to Kieran. Fodden @ durham. pnn. police. uk
Kieran Fodden
Community Support Officer Aycliffe Neighbourhood Police Team