Meeting The Shopkeepers

At the outset of Gateshead Council's mass demolition programme the Residents Association cried foul on behalf of the shopkeepers. The shops on Saltwell Road are at the heart of an economic system of local trade. We pointed out that demolition removes the customers on which local traders depend.

Despite this warning Gateshead's dedicated demolition team have made every effort to force local people out of their homes with money and threats of compulsory purchase. The shopkeepers have experienced a dramatic downturn and they arrived in force to meet the demolition team from Gateshead Council at a local school.

Gateshead's demolition team explained that they had "millions" to spend on demolition but nothing for shops. Pathfinder didn't help local shops - despite the fact that shops are part of a vibrant effective community. Shop owners wanted help with rate relief due to the decline in the area. Gateshead Council said that they only collected rates for the Government and couldn't help.

Gateshead's officers did say they could help with business consultants. One shopkeeper said he had received a visit from the consultants. They had concluded that there were too few customers because of demolition.

Deborah McKenna, one of Gateshead Council's leading advocates for demolition, suggested that the shops needed a slogan to attract new customers. A suggestion immediately came from the crowd; how about "Been in business 40 years - closing soon". Maybe this stretched Deborah's sense of humour too far as she failed to appreciate the irony.

Complaints were made about the "compound". This is now the new name for the portion of Armstrong Street that is now being used as a dumping ground for building materials. The fact that this causes clouds of dust and debris in the air was dismissed by the officials because this was being resolved by the presence of a street sweeper every day. (We just hope he wears an industrial strength gas mask).

Gateshead Council official big announcement was that any demolition areas would be covered by grass for at least 2 years and that they hoped to build family homes in 2012. The outraged businessmen of Saltwell Road had no faith any of them would still have businesses by 2012!

Local councillors were invited to speak to the local businesses but none bothered to turn up. There is little they could say on behalf of their constituents as they all support mass demolition.

Meanwhile as a Residents Association we know the importance of small businesses in our community. We try to encourage our members to shop locally and support local business. However trying to support the business community while Gateshead Council is demolishing their customers' homes is incredibly difficult.