£1.5million to improve Hartlepool neighbourhoods in '˜we won't forget you' promise

It comes with a message from council chiefs - that they won’t forget the neighbourhoods despite their big plans for Church Street, Jacksons Landing and the waterfront.

The Mail has already revealed the ambitious plans to set up a television studio in Lynn Street, complete the Church Square and Church Street programme, and build a huge new museum on the former Jacksons Landing site.

But housing estates in town will get their own scheme.

A £1,5m pot of capital investment money is being lined up to spruce up the town’s communities and council chiefs are hoping registered social landlords and developers will match fund it.

Local authority bosses have already had some feedback through a survey they did last summer. But now, every councillor on the authority is being asked to indicate what changes they would like to see in their communities.

Those recommendations will be taken into account in the council’s plans for the future.

Council chief executive Gill Alexander said: “We will be launching our three-year plan and five-year strategy.

“We did something over the summer which was a Hartlepool-wide conversation. We called it Your Say Our Future and we tried to have a different approach to how we engage with people outside of normal council settings.

“That was a really powerful thing to do and what was really encouraging about it was just how enthusiastic people are for the town’s future.

“But also what they were saying to us was ‘we really want you to deliver on the regeneration of the town centre that you have talked about through Church Street and the waterfront but please don’t forget the communities and neighbourhoods we live in’.

“The five-year strategy will focus on that. How do we improve play areas? How do we tackle some of the problems on estates around footpaths, around shop fronts.

“How do we work with communities to make them a great place to live in. We are trying to get the balance right in the plan.”

Council leader, Coun Christopher Akers-Belcher said: “Within our five-year capital programme, there will be money set aside to improve neighbourhoods, and that is something we have done on a very low scale before but this is on a larger scale”