Mining town's £6m investment plan approved

A multi-million pound scheme to regenerate a former mining town has been approved.

Durham County Council has agreed to invest £6m to tackle housing issues in Hordon village.

The authority will buy properties on Third Street with the aim of redeveloping them into high quality housing or demolishing them to build new homes.

Despite the plans, Labour councillors have been accused of letting the area "deteriorate".

The redevelopment includes improving walking and cycling routes to Peterlee town centre, Horden train station and the Durham Heritage Coast, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The long-term goal is to support those with housing needs by addressing the issue of empty homes and the high number of private landlords.

However, Liberal Democrat councillor Mark Wilkes accused Labour of leaving the area behind.

He said: "In 2015 Labour were offered 130 properties on the numbered streets in Horden for £1.

“Labour refused and just left the area to further deteriorate. Labour had a chance to start the regeneration of Horden and utterly failed, increasing the cost to fix the problem massively."

But Labour said it created its own masterplan for Horden and a Levelling Up investment bid in March 2021, which the Lib Dems rejected.

Councillor Kevin Shaw said: "Labour’s plan to regenerate Horden was agreed, the funding bid was oven ready, but this Tory-led coalition ignored the plan, ignored the bid and by doing so, ignored the people of Horden.

"The levelling up failure is down to Councillor Wilkes and his chaotic coalition colleagues."

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