HARTLEPOOL NEWS
BOARD AGREES VISION FOR TOWN ’ S FUTURE
Vision – Hartlepool Development Corporation Board ’ s masterplan is focused on accelerating Hartlepool by maximising the potential of its maritime past , manufacturing present and creative future .
The Hartlepool Development Corporation Board has unanimously agreed the masterplan to supercharge regeneration in the town .
The plan is focused on accelerating Hartlepool by maximising the potential of its maritime past , manufacturing present and creative future .
It sets out the strategy to drive investment and support its transformation by stimulating private sector investment and growth , creating partnerships to unlock opportunities and promoting the area to would-be investors .
This includes attracting 2,000 new , goodquality jobs , building up to 1,300 new homes , restoring , reinvigorating and reshaping a sustainable and vibrant town centre and renewing the waterfront to create a thriving maritime economy around its historic Marina .
Oakesway Business Park , retail and leisure
land – including Mill House Leisure Centre and Middleton Grange Shopping Centre , with public realm and civic buildings – will all sit within the corporation boundary .
Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen , chair of the board , said : “ We ’ re moving rapidly now to a position where we can stop talking and start doing – this ambitious vision sets out how we ’ re going to reimagine the town , capitalising on fantastic assets like the Northern Studios , BIS , the Marina and others to pay tribute to its past while growing the sectors of the future .
“ Just last week we were at the UKREiiF event banging the drum for the development corporation to a raft of wouldbe investors , developers and housebuilders .
“ We might be at the beginning of our journey but we ’ re wasting no time in getting people on board to help develop the Hartlepool local people deserve .”
Formal opening of the Northern Studios
The Northern Studios welcomed Sir Peter Bazalgette , co-chair of the Creative Industries Council , to an evening reception to celebrate the formal opening of the new Teesside-based television and film studio complex .
Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen joined Sir Peter to conduct the formal opening alongside key figures from the screen industries and regional creative organisations .
Based in Hartlepool , the studios have already accommodated a film and production crew for the forthcoming UK action thriller Jackdaw , directed by homegrown talent Jamie Childs .
The Northern Studios is a largescale commercial facility for the region and supports the new film and television infrastructure map for the North-East .
TMD Friction invests £ 2m in plant
A global leader in brake friction manufacture , TMD Friction , has invested £ 2m into new state-of-the-art machinery at its Hartlepool plant that will help to increase efficiencies and production of its premium quality brake pads .
The investment will replace three paint lines and some of its grinding machines with the latest technology , providing the factory with improved flexibility and agility through both its reliability and simplification of the combined pad handling system , meaning it can produce a wider range of the product portfolio .
TMD Friction , which is based at Oakesway Trading Estate , in Hartlepool , manufactures more than 400,000 parts per week .
Mayor congratulates enterprise award winners
Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen has applauded Hartlepool ’ s Hogg Global Logistics for becoming the only North-East winner of a prestigious King ’ s Award for Enterprise – as he urged more local firms to apply for the 2024 awards .
Hogg Global Logistics scooped the 2023 Outstanding Short Term Growth Award in the prestigious programme ’ s International Trade category , thanks to its huge expansion in sea , air , road and rail freight services after its creation in 2019 with just five staff .
From 2019 to 2022 , the international freight forwarding firm ’ s overseas sales grew by 405 per cent – now making up 94 per cent of all sales .
Work begins on waterfront project
Work has started on a scheme to improve links between Hartlepool Marina , the town centre and Seaton Carew .
The Waterfront Connectivity scheme , one of five projects being funded through the £ 25m Hartlepool Town Deal , comprises improvements to public realm infrastructure and footpaths .
The work will benefit residents and make the area more accessible for visitors to the Tall Ships Races , which the town hosts from July 6 to 9 .
A new footpath will also be created along the water ’ s edge beside Slake Terrace , connecting the lock gates all the way around to the Old West Quay and beyond .
For more information visit yoursay . hartlepool . gov . uk .
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