Newcastle City Council, Gateshead Council and the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority have published a draft 25-year regeneration framework setting out how the two city centres and the land along the River Tyne could develop by 2050.

The Strategic Regeneration Framework, prepared with Homes England, brings major developments including Forth Yards, Gateshead Quays and Pilgrim Street into a single plan covering housing, employment, commercial development and transport connections.

For the first time, the two councils and the mayoral authority have set out their long-term regeneration priorities for both centres in one document. The framework is intended to guide investment decisions, coordinate infrastructure and help determine which projects receive public-sector support.

The urban core already supports around 118,000 jobs but has approximately 32,000 residents living in about 10,000 homes, including around 18,500 students.

The framework proposes more than 16,000 additional homes over the next 25 years, with the aim of at least doubling the resident population. It also envisages more than 3m sq ft of additional commercial space, including offices, innovation facilities and other employment uses.

The area currently attracts an estimated 17.5 million visitors annually, generating around £2.47bn in visitor spending. The framework seeks to build on that activity through new cultural, sporting and entertainment facilities and improved public spaces.

The framework divides the urban core into eight opportunity areas, each with a different role in accommodating future growth.

Newcastle City Core covers the established commercial centre, including Grainger Town and Pilgrim Street. Boulevard and Stadium brings together St James' Park, Newcastle Helix and the western city-centre corridor. Eastern Gateway focuses on connections around Manors and New Bridge Street.

Gateshead Town Centre is identified for housing, business development and improvements to its streets and public spaces.

Tyne Heart covers the central waterfront and its cultural attractions. Western Urban Villages stretches westwards from Central Station, while Eastern Urban Villages extends the Ouseburn model into Baltic Quarter, Southshore, Spillers and Malmo Quay.

An eighth, Urban Core-wide, covers heritage, gateways, public art and events across the whole area.

Several projects within these areas are already progressing.

At Forth Yards, the framework identifies an opportunity to create new residential neighbourhoods west of Central Station. The wider western corridor could accommodate more than 3,750 homes, including around 2,500 at Forth Yards itself.

The Pilgrim Street redevelopment is helping establish a modern commercial district on the eastern side of Newcastle city centre. Meanwhile, Gateshead Quays has proposals for new public spaces and infrastructure, alongside the longer-term ambition for a new arena.

The framework also proposes better pedestrian and cycling routes, improvements to existing transport interchanges and better links across the Tyne.

The document is intended to become a guide for public investment and development decisions. Once approved, it would support funding applications, business cases and future planning policy, including the joint Local Plan.

It is not itself a funding package or planning approval for the developments it identifies. Individual schemes would still require their own investment, planning decisions and delivery arrangements.

Coordination would take place through the Newcastle Gateshead Mayoral Development Zone partnership, which is intended to bring the councils, mayoral authority and other public and private organisations together around a shared development programme.

Newcastle plans to present the proposed zone to international investors at MIPIM in 2027.

The strategy also follows Newcastle City Council's approval on 7 October of its Council Plan for 2026-29, which sets an ambition to make Newcastle "the UK's most successful regional capital". Council leader Colin Ferguson has linked that objective to the new joint framework.

The draft will be considered by the cabinets of Newcastle City Council and Gateshead Council, with Gateshead's meeting scheduled for 20 October. The North East Mayoral Strategic Authority is due to consider the framework on 27 October.

Subject to those decisions, public and stakeholder consultation is planned for autumn 2026. The partners will then consider the responses before seeking final approval of the framework.