Old station to be demolished despite Gormley hopes

Sir Antony Gormley has a long-standing association with Hexham

A council will proceed with plans to demolish a former fire station despite interest from Angel of the North artist Sir Antony Gormley in obtaining the site for a gallery.

Sir Antony has a long-standing association with Hexham and submitted plans that would have seen the disused station on Tyne Mills Industrial Estate used to store his work and potentially exhibit it in the future.

However, Northumberland County Council had plans to extend an existing site compound next door in order to provide space for a new fleet of vehicles needed for additional recycling duties.

Hexham county councillor and mayor Derek Kennedy said he was "absolutely disgusted" by the decision.

At a meeting of the council's cabinet on Tuesday, leader Glen Sanderson said officers had looked at alternative options for the site compound but they had proved to be financially unviable.

He told colleagues the plans had been paused for three months to "allow full and exhaustive discussions with Mr Gormley's foundation and other local residents" but officers concluded "the only option to meet our value for money test is to continue with our plans".

It became clear, he added, that the authority "simply cannot justify the extra £1.5m capital cost of building at a new location, plus a potential £250,000 annual cost of an additional site, even if planning were to be given".

The former fire station is to be demolished

Sir Antony, 74, has had a studio on Haugh Lane for the past 20 years as well as the nearby foundry previously known as the Davidson-Tyne Foundry.

His charity, The Foundation Foundation, hoped that the acquisition would have seen "a new era of public-facing activity begin".

The proposals included a gallery where key works could be exhibited while local artists would also be supported, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Sanderson said the council was willing to work with the foundation to find an alternative site and had identified the listed Fellside building at the former Hexham Middle School site as a potential option.

He said he had written to the artist "seeking a meeting soon to look at what we think is a very exciting alternative site in council ownership closer to the town centre" with car parking and good accessibility.

Mayor Kennedy, who also leads the council's Independent Group, said the authority had missed "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity".

He added: "This would have been a fabulous opportunity for Hexham to get on to the international arts agenda, but those who make the decisions in Morpeth have decided Hexham is not worthy."