Blyth is bouncing back!

If Blyth were a listed share on the stockmarket then it may have been fair to describe it as a 'sell' a stock which had fallen from its high point at the beginning of the last century when coal was thriving and the Port of Blyth was building vessels such as the first aircraft carrier for the Royal Navy--HMS Ark Royal. But three recent developments mean that I believe that Blyth should be placed back on the 'buy' list for serious long-term investors: First, Blyth has positioned itself well as the regional centre for new and renewable energy research at NaREC and could well manoeuvre itself into a national and even international leadership role especially in offshore wind farms bring high skilled jobs and employers such as Clipper from the US to the town. Second, there is a supply of good quality homes coming on stream especially at the south end of the town and this is drawing in families who have been priced out of Whitley Bay and Morpeth to enjoy the great coastline and the regeneration which has taken place there. Third and most importantly, Bede Academy is a fantastic 3-18 state school which opened a couple of weeks ago on twin sites in Newsham and South Beach, the school is a state of the art establishment run by the Emmanuel Schools Foundation who have a twenty year track record in delivering academic excellence in the region. Moreover, the new academy has an engineering specialism and aims to provide the brains behind the blades of the future development of the industry in the town. Over the past few weeks I have had the privilege of seeing all three of the elements of economic hope at first hand and I am convinced Blyth is bouncing back!

(Pic: Blyth's future: Bede pupils I met yesterday: Andrew, Lauren, Dana, Sam, Lisa and Sam)