Stockton 'riverside park' to replace shopping centre approved

Stockton Council said the new park will open the town up to the riverside

Plans to bulldoze a shopping centre built in the 1970s to make way for a "riverside park" have been approved.

Stockton Borough Council said Castlegate Shopping Centre on the High Street will be demolished in 2022.

In its place a five-acre park with trees, art installations and a land-bridge to the River Tees will be built.

New council headquarters will also be built on the site. The project is due for completion in March 2024, the council said.

Some of the funding will come from the Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA), and council bosses are also hoping for a further £21m for the wider revamp from a bid to the government's Future High Streets Fund.

Councillor Nigel Cooke, cabinet member for regeneration and housing, said there had been strong public support for making the most of the River Tees, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service .

The project's main aim is to reopen the town to the river and shrink the number of shops in the town.

Mr Cooke said shopping and retail in Stockton "wasn't dead" but there were too many shops.

He said: "My mam once said to me, 'I don't know what you're doing at that council - you're ruining that high street'.

"I said, 'no, Mam - your generation ruined the high street and we're putting it right'."