Helping to improve how Whitley Bay looks for residents and visitors
We are developing initiatives to improve how Whitley Bay looks with a focus on several legacy projects.
When Gareth, our new Tidy Town Worker, first took on his role he found the Town Centre Planters in a bit of a state. Gareth has worked hard to get them on the road to recovery. Huge thanks to Tom Owens for donating some of the annual bedding plants and to the other local businesses like @scissorhands_barbers, Holland and Barrett UK, Clusters Bespoke Jewellery and Veterans at Ease Whitley Bay for watering the planters and helping them look so healthy!
Trewitt Road Triangle was donated to the residents of Trewitt Road as a communal space to be used by residents and local people in perpetuity. It is used by children to play ball games and a space where residents meet. In recent times, the triangle has become neglected and underused. Residents approached the Tidy Town team to see if they could help. They applied for support via the Small Sparks Programme and a budget was agreed to improve the area. With work ongoing now, the space will soon be a beautiful area that residents are proud of once again.
Our Tidy Town Worker has been busy painting bollards, bins and street furniture, weeding in Whitley Park, around the Spanish City and town centre planters, also tidying shop fronts, collecting litter and reporting issues.
Whitley Bay Big Local has commissioned bollards based on an original design, which can be see around Whitley Bay town centre and on the seafront at the Fisherman's Bay fish and chip restaurant.
Masterplan – we have worked closely with a local landscape architect company, Place On Earth, to develop a Masterplan for the Whitley Bay Big Local area. This is based on local consultation and is an aspirational plan that helped to influence some of the recent regeneration work in Whitley Bay.
Our current plan includes the development of a seafront outdoor gym area, improving facilities at the local beach – showers and drinking fountains and further developing business plans to re-establish beach huts that once were a feature of the local promenade.
We are working with the council and looking for funding to install an outdoor gym on the promenade. We plan to improve the beach facilities with a shower and water dispenser / fountain
Residents of North Parade have come together to makeover their back lane with the support of the Whitley Bay Big Local Small Sparks Programme. The lane has been a bit of an eyesore for some time, with accumulations of litter and areas that were used as a dumping ground. Residents got together and approached the Tidy Town Team to see if we could help them to improve the area. We loved the idea and agreed that it could be made into a nice space for residents and local people walking between the town centre and the coast. We agreed a budget for the project and gave support through our Tidy Town worker and our amazing volunteers. Everyone came together to clear the rubbish, paint walls and install hanging baskets to make the alley a pleasant and safe space to be.
The telescopes have also been repainted and have plaques so everyone can see that Whitley Bay Big Local invested in these fantastic features for our seafront.
Telescopes – we commissioned two, free to use, seafront telescopes which are located at the north and south ends of promenade in the Whitley Bay Big Local area. Local school children designed posters to illustrate what they might see through the new telescopes and some of them joined the Mayor to unveil the telescopes.
Whitley Park improvements – working with Friends of Whitley Park and North Tyneside Council, Big Local has contributed time and resources to assist with the continuous improvement of Whitley Park. This includes tree, flower and bulb planting and commissioning works to improve access to the park.
Colour scheme and materials – working with North Tyneside Council we have influenced the return of traditional Whitley Bay blue paint colours around the newly refurbished seafront area and the use of a consistent palette of materials for paving and landscaping.
