THE town council have registered their 'disappointment and frustration' at the county council's 'delay' in developing a former school site.
Hexham Middle School was based at Wanless Lane before moving to the existing Queen Elizabeth High School site in September 2021.
The old site comprises five hectares of land, a Grade-II listed building and is home to Hexham's Community Garden.
The county council announced in March that a masterplan would be commissioned to determine the future of the former Hexham Middle School site, however, there has been no decision made yet.
Hexham Town Council said they are concerned with the delay.
Town and County Councillor for Hexham East, Suzanne Fairless-Aitken, said: "Hexham Town Council, on behalf of concerned residents, have become increasingly disappointed and frustrated with Northumberland County Council’s procrastination on the issue of what is to be done with the former Hexham Middle School site in Hexham East.
"It has now sat empty for two years, which is an unacceptable delay for such a valuable town asset.
"Windows have been smashed and anti-social behaviour on the site has been an ongoing issue.
“We need to be creative and brave, and we know that people in the town have some great ideas for use of the land as we’ve seen in online community forums, which is why Cllr Penny Grennan and I proposed running our own town council consultation among our own community."
Cllr Fairless-Aitken and Cllr Grennan said Hexham residents need to voice their opinions for the site's future.
Cllr Fairless-Aitken added: "Over the last two years, we have proposed various solutions for parts of the site which have all been pushed aside.
"Cycling Minds CIC was at first offered a temporary venue but that was withdrawn at the last minute, proposals for a Community Hub, Film School, and even childcare at old Di and Jim’s site were all dismissed.
"Please share and fill in the digital consultation. It is easily shared via text, Whatsapp and social networks. Hexham Town Council will feed the responses back to Northumberland County Council to better help them decide the future of this important community asset in our town.
"The link is available on our website and Facebook page."
A county council spokesperson said: "In March this year we revealed details to master plan the former Hexham Middle School site.
"This work is underway and as part of the process, the views of stakeholders in Hexham will be sought.
"At this early stage there have not been any ideas rejected.
"The Hexham Hub includes membership from both the town council and county council and these matters have been discussed in that forum.
"We hope this will continue to be an appropriate place to do so, with all parties working together to enable appropriate future development on this site."
For more information email suzannehappierhexham@gmail.com, clerk@hexhamtowncouncil.gov.uk or scan the QR code below for the consult form.
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