Castle Morpeth Council's Economy member John Beynon has confirmed that the multi-million regeneration project is running behind schedule and will not be finished by April next year when Northumberland's new unitary authority takes control.

"Unfortunately there have been some delays," he said.

"None of the delays have been associated with Castle Morpeth Council – they are out of our hands completely.

"With a huge project like this you will get delays.

"They have happened, but work has started and we have got the petrol station and car park now.

"Unfortunately, we doubt the development will be completed by April 1.

"It's a great shame, but it will be well down the road to completion."

The admission came at a meeting of the full council, but members were told that work will progress as quickly as possible and will benefit the town.

"When you look at the credit crunch and see how many schemes have been mothballed, it just shows how positive it is for Morpeth that this scheme is going ahead," said Coun Beynon.

"Morpeth is a fantastic town with some fantastic shops, but it does need the big players to come in and with this development we will get that."

Opposition leader David Parker asked for assurances that as much pressure as possible will be applied to bring about early completion of the project and he called for discussions with the unitary authority to ensure it remains a priority.

"In view of the delay, can the council be reassured that the administration will do all in its power to encourage the contractors to complete the work at the earliest possible moment?" he said.

"Will it be alerting the new unitary authority of the need to monitor this situation to make sure this project is completed as soon as possible in 2009?"

Coun Beynon said officers would be pressing the developers and informing the unitary body of progress.

"It goes without saying that everybody in this administration and all councillors know the importance of this development to the town and we don't want Morpeth to be a building site," he added.