Arlington and Homes England present 135-acre Northumberland masterplan

One year on from the companies forming a joint venture to develop the West Hartford land into up to 1m sq ft of commercial and industrial space, plans have been unveiled at a meeting with North East Mayor Kim McGuinness.

Located on the outskirts of Cramlington, the site is close to the deep water Port of Blyth and the ORE Catapult testing facilities.

It will support the growth of the port and will be part of the Energy Central Partnership, which offers opportunities for investors in the marine, offshore, and renewable energy sectors.

The development will be part of the North East Combined Authority’s economic development strategy, with the aim of attracting both jobs and investment into the area.

Port of Blyth CEO Martin Lawler is a non-executive director of the JV, which will work with the port as a strategic partner.

Under Lawler’s guidance, the port has developed strong infrastructure and a growing cluster of more than 50 businesses through its Energy Central initiative, a nationally significant offshore energy cluster.

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Dean Cook, managing director of County Durham-based Arlington Real Estate, said: “It was great to meet with the Mayor to showcase our masterplan and, what we feel is, a real opportunity to attract investment into the area and to help with the her plans to boost investment and job creation in the region.

“West Hartford is currently the only site in the area that can accommodate large scale development to attract both national and international businesses.”

Martin Lawlor said: “I am pleased to join the Arlington Real Estate and Homes England Joint venture at an exciting time in its journey.

“Having worked extensively to enhance the economic impact of the Port of Blyth, I look forward to bringing my experience to support the JV’s work in driving regional regeneration through this development, which will bolster the area’s infrastructure and business capacity.”

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness said: ““The potential of offshore wind to transform the North East economy is massive, to attract investment, good jobs and create new training and rewarding careers for local workers.

“We have unrivalled access to the North East and I’m determined to harness this potential to create real opportunity for workers and businesses.

“We’re investing in Energy Central to make this happen, and I look forward to working with Arlington and Port of Blyth to make our global North East economy even stronger.”