Newcastle's Northumberland Street revamp to get under way

Lighting towers will pay homage to the poles that guide people across the causeway to Holy Island in Northumberland

Work is set to start on a multimillion-pound revamp of Newcastle's main High Street - two years after plans were first announced.

Northumberland Street will be given new lighting pillars, paving, seats and greenery, the city council says.

Taylor Woodrow has been appointed contractor to carry out the project.

Preparatory works on the busy street are set to start before Christmas, with the whole scheme expected to be completed by 2025.

The project is being funded using the majority of a £20m grant from the government's Levelling Up Fund.

'Flagship' scheme

The money had originally been earmarked for the pedestrianisation of Blackett Street and a redesign of Old Eldon Square.

However, those plans were shelved by the council's new Labour administration when councillor Nick Kemp took over as leader last year.

Included in the plans are a series of 50ft (15m) lighting towers paying homage to the wooden poles that guide people across the causeway to Holy Island in Northumberland, as well as medieval-themed paving to recognise the street's history as part of an ancient route for travellers journeying to Lindisfarne.

New seating and greenery are intended to make the area more welcoming

Labour councillor Alex Hay, the council's cabinet member responsible for city centre regeneration, said the street would be the "flagship" for efforts to make the area "cleaner, greener [and] more welcoming".

Concerns had been raised by the city's Liberal Democrat opposition about a lack of progress with complaints the area had become "increasingly shabby".

Civic centre bosses announced the scheme in 2021 but then delayed it in order to remodel the project, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.