Historic Bedlington station building to be demolished as councillors fear preservation would become a 'money pit'

Councillors have backed plans to demolish a former station building in Bedlington as part of huge works to restore passenger trains between Newcastle and Ashington from next year.

More than 1,000 people had signed a petition calling for the derelict structure to be saved and converted into a heritage centre and community hub at the station.

But Northumberland County Council officials argued that the building, thought to date from between 1900 and 1910 and the smaller of two station buildings on Bedlington’s redundant platform, would be too costly to retain.

The local authority’s planning committee heard on Tuesday afternoon that “expensive and complicated” underpinning works, expected to cost between £375,000 and £575,000, would be needed to shore up the station’s southern building while work to rebuild the platform is completed.

Keith Grimes, chair of East Bedlington Parish Council, had urged the council and Network Rail not to take “the cheapest and simplest option” by tearing the site down.

He told the committee of detailed parish council plans to regenerate both disused buildings at the station to “restore civic pride and create job and business opportunities,” while making Bedlington “a destination, rather than just another stop on the line.”

Mr Grimes said the parish council had been repeatedly “ignored” by Network Rail but had set aside £40,000 for the project and was confident of securing further grant funding.

The Victorian Society had also argued that the building was a “rare survivor” of the old Ashington, Blyth and Tyne Line that deserved protection.

Adam Hogg, of West Bedlington Town Council, added: “Over the years the whole of Bedlington has seen less and less support for heritage, with a number of local buildings being demolished via the planning process even though the local community has strongly objected.”

However, 10 of the planning committee’s 12 members voted in favour of the demolition plans.

Conservative Richard Dodd said that preserving the building “looks like a money pit to me,” while Liberal Democrat Jeff Reid agreed that it was “just four walls of brick.”

Coun Reid added: “The value is not there. It is not worth spending upwards of half a million pounds on something that is not actually worth anything.”

Labour’s Caroline Ball, who was one of the two dissenting voices alongside independent Georgina Hill, said it was “shameful” that the council and railway bosses were not exploring alternatives.

Committee chair Trevor Thorpe concluded that, while the 1850s northern building at the station is a “gem” that he hoped would still be turned into a heritage centre, protecting the south building would constitute spending “a lot of money for very little.”

He said: “It would be wrong to say we are saving this building at any cost. You have to look at the merit and value and beauty that such a building might bring.

"I feel that southern building does not have a lot to recommend it.”

Once reopened, the new Nortumberland Line will offer a half-hourly service between Newcastle and Ashington, stopping at Bedlington, Bebside, Newsham, Seaton Delaval and Northumberland Park.

The route was due to reopen in December this year, but that target has been pushed back to summer 2024.