Progress on Borderlands projects branded 'embarrassing' as figures show £1.2 million spend

Questions have been raised about the delivery of projects from the Borderlands programme after figures from Northumberland County Council showed that more than £1.2 million has been spent on administering the cross-border deal since 2021.

So far, just two Northumberland-specific projects have been delivered four years into the 10-year long project - the Lilidorei attraction at Alnwick Garden and the Ad Gefrin distillery in Wooler. In addition, the Borderlands Digital Voucher scheme benefited both Northumberland and Cumbria while Destination Tweed focused on The Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway as well as Northumberland.

The speed at the roll-out of key aspects of the £452 million deal has been criticised after the county council provided updates on the key Borderlands Place Programme last week. Seven towns in the county are eligible to receive up to £3 million per town to fund improvement projects - but so far, nothing has been delivered.

The figures, obtained by Prudhoe town councillor Paddy O'Kelly via a Freedom of Information request and seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, show £1.23 million has been spent on the administration of the deal since April 2021. Of this, £865,738 went on salaries.

The council has said the money is Borderlands funding and is the cost of administrating the entire project, not just Northumberland. It was also pointed out that significant development work is underway to bring forward other projects including the Place Programme.

However, Northumberland Labour leader Coun Scott Dickinson argued the progress was too slow and that the projects and funding were desperately needed by communities.

He said: "When you have got all this money, and communities are crying out for it, why on earth isn't it progressing? I just don't understand it.

"Nothing has been delivered - it is embarrassing. There is no reason for the progress to be this slow."

The leader of the council, Glen Sanderson, admitted he understood the frustration of residents. However, he also urged the public to remain patient.

Coun Sanderson said: "There is always some frustration around a process that tends to be, by its very nature, careful in how it comes forward. This process is very slow-moving and that causes frustration which I completely understand.

"The county council is working as hard as it can with a number of conflicting positions about what people want to see in their towns. It's really difficult to find consensus.

"We have to dot the i's and cross the t's. It is not fair to blame the county council, in fact it is incredibly unfair.

"We have allocated a number of key staff who are working their socks off to keep things moving. We're working flat out and these projects will be sorted.

"We have spent a lot of money to make sure we have the right people in the right places to make sure we deliver the Place Programme. We have to follow the process which very thorough.

"People just need to bear with this process and we will get there. The Borderlands is a unique partnership that is cross-border and cross-council, bringing significant developments to rural areas that usually would not see them, such as Ad Gefrin and the Berwick Maltings - which is due to go to planning in February.

"I'm very supportive of this partnership which brings development and jobs to rural areas."

The Borderlands Digital Voucher Scheme additional funding to the Government's Rural Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme to make it even easier to upgrade your connectivity. Residential properties were eligible for between £500 and £3,000 per property.

Destination Tweed aims to "celebrate and share the nature, history and stories" of the River Tweed to "deliver significant benefits to the south of Scotland and North Northumberland".

In total, 12 projects have been delivered across the Borderlands area. The largest are the Carlisle Citadels project (£50 million) and the Carlisle Station Gateway (£20 million).

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