Editing Amble (section)

==Present day==
[[File:St Cuthbert's Church, Amble - geograph.org.uk - 980084.jpg|thumb|St Cuthbert's Church]]
Sir Nikolaus Pevsner's guide of 1992 says that "Today Amble is a not unpleasant small town but has few buildings of distinction." Of those, he records the church of [[Cuthbert|St Cuthbert]], which was originally constructed in 1870 and expanded in 1929, and its associated 1876-built vicarage. In addition, he notes some early Victorian terraces on Queen Street and North Street, as well as "a fragment of wall with a C 15 window, square-headed and of two trefoiled lights with uncusped sunk panels above. Though it may seem unlikely, this is an ''in situ'' fragment of the medieval manor house. It belonged to Tynemouth Priory and may have served as a monastic cell." This latter is found on High Street.<ref name="Pevsner"/>

The fishing industry continues in Amble today, albeit with a reduced number of vessels,{{citation needed|date=January 2013}} as does a small marine industry which is mainly concentrated around the construction and repair of [[yacht]]s and other [[pleasure craft]].{{citation needed|date=January 2013}} A small [[industrial estate]] is located to the southwest of the town, whose clients include [[mechanic|vehicle repairs]] and telecommunications companies.{{citation needed|date=January 2013}} However, {{As of|2012|lc=yes}}, most of the units on the estate are unoccupied and the town has been affected by the closure of nearby businesses, such as a site operated by [[Alcan]], as well as two food processing businesses in the town that employed nearly 300 people. A proposed retail development by [[Tesco]] had also been postponed due to poor trading conditions. The town's mayor announced that "the prospects for jobs are very bleak indeed."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.amble.gov.uk/2012/04/annual-reports-from-amble-groupsorganisations/ |publisher=Amble Town Council |title=Annual Reports from Amble Groups/Organisations |date=17 April 2012 |access-date=24 January 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.amble.gov.uk/2012/05/minutes-of-amble-parish-meeting-held-23rd-april-2012/ |title=Minutes of Amble Parish meeting held 23rd April 2012 |date=25 May 2012 |publisher=Amble Town Council |access-date=24 January 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Border Laird seafood factory at Amble set to close |first=Brian |last=Daniel |publisher=The Journal |date=10 July 2012 |url=http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-news/2012/07/10/border-laird-seafood-factory-at-amble-set-to-close-61634-31359650/#ixzz2Iig58ZeW |access-date=24 January 2013}}</ref>

The [[Royal National Lifeboat Institution]] maintains a [[Lifeboat station|station]] at Amble.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.amblelifeboat.org.uk/ |title=The RNLI at Amble |publisher=Royal National Lifeboat Institute |access-date=24 January 2013}}</ref> Amble RNLI station has two lifeboats – the Shannon Class 'Shannon Elizabeth and Leonard', which replaced the Mersey Class lifeboat 'The Four Boys' in November 2016 after the station raised £200,000 towards the new vessel's £2,000,000 cost.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://rnli.org/news-and-media/2016/november/16/amble-rnli-set-to-welcome-new-shannon-class-lifeboat|title=Amble RNLI set to welcome new Shannon class lifeboat {{!}} RNLI|website=rnli.org|access-date=2017-01-09}}</ref> Amble's second lifeboat is the 'D Class' Inshore Lifeboat (or ILB), the 'Mildred Holcroft'. There have been lifeboats operating from the town since 1842<ref>{{cite web |title=Our Station & Community |url=http://www.amblelifeboat.org.uk/station.php |publisher=Royal National Lifeboat Institute |access-date=24 January 2013}}</ref> and, for example, between 30 and 40 people perished in various wrecks near to Amble on 17–18 December 1872.<ref>{{cite journal |pages=[https://archive.org/details/transactionsof5187376natu/page/55 55]–56 |title=Meteorological Report, 1872 |journal=Natural History Transactions of Northumberland and Durham |publisher=Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Tyneside Naturalists' Field Club |volume=5 |first1=R. F. |last1=Wheeler |first2=R. E. |last2=Hoopell |year=1877 |url=https://archive.org/details/transactionsof5187376natu}}</ref>

===Regeneration and community development===
Amble had been a recipient of [[regional development]] assistance from 1965, when the restructuring of coal-mining operations, led by [[Alfred Robens, Baron Robens of Woldingham|Alfred Robens]] of the [[National Coal Board]], had a substantial detrimental effect on the local economy.<ref name="Guardian1984"/> Unemployment in the town was then 6.5 per cent, compared to a national average of 1.5 per cent.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Guardian |date=23 October 1965 |title=Districts for development |page=1}}</ref> By 1969, the Northern Economic Planning Council was proposing the closure of the port, which no longer had any coal traffic, in favour of redevelopment for leisure purposes.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Guardian |title=Some Northern ports 'will have to close' |last=Ardill |first=John |date=22 May 1969 |page=5}}</ref> The same year saw the closure of the nearby airbase of [[RAF Acklington]], where some of the population worked, and local unemployment exceeded 13 per cent as proposals for a substantial mushroom farming operation that would alleviate the problems were made.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Guardian |title=Mushroom farm may be cure |last=Ardill |first=John |date=19 November 1969 |page=6}}</ref> The farming operation failed to materialise due to lack of financial support from the government.<ref>{{cite news |title=The regions: the hardest hit in a hard-hit area |first=Ronald |last=Kershaw |newspaper=The Times |date=10 May 1971 |page=18}}</ref>

The development assistance was withdrawn in 1984, at which time a newspaper report noted that over 30 per cent of the 6,000 population were unemployed, with 80 per cent of council house tenants and 45 per cent of home owners receiving benefits or rebates for their housing costs and over 25 per cent of children claiming free school meals. The change in official status was one of the "glaring anomalies" of a government review, resulting from the town being reclassified as part of the "[[travel to work area]]" for [[Alnwick]] rather than a part of the industrialised regions to the south. Four businesses had been encouraged by the assistance to locate in the town during the preceding decade, creating around 400 jobs.<ref name="Guardian1984">{{cite news |newspaper=The Guardian |date=29 November 1984 |page=2 |title=New blow for town with 30 pc jobless |first=Peter |last=Hetherington}}</ref>

Amble Development Trust is a company operating as a charity with the purpose of working with other bodies to regenerate the town. It was established in 1994.<ref>{{cite web|title=Amble Development Trust|url=http://www.ambledevelopmenttrust.org.uk/Version2/current/pages/about.htm |access-date=24 January 2013}}</ref> The Trust has been involved in numerous local projects to develop Amble both physically and socially, including having input on improvements to Queen Street, which is the main shopping thoroughfare.<ref name="ADTProjects">{{cite web |url=http://www.ambledevelopmenttrust.org.uk/Version2/current/pages/projects.htm |title=Projects |publisher=Amble Development Trust |access-date=24 January 2013}}</ref> The work of the Trust and its associated body, the Amble Strategic Partnership, was recognised by the [[Royal Town Planning Institute]] in 2003 when they were given the institute's Planning for Town Regeneration award. This came soon after the same organisation had awarded them their Regional Award for Planning Achievement.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=Northumberland Gazette |url=http://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/news/local-news/regeneration-partners-scoop-national-award-1-1479960 |title= Regeneration partners scoop national award |date=7 February 2003 |access-date=24 January 2013}}</ref>
Recently {{when|date=November 2018}} new housing has been built, adding an extra 900 homes, and a new hotel called the Amble Inn opened in 2019<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/news/meal-review-amble-inn-sandpiper-way-154793 | title=MEAL REVIEW: The Amble Inn, Sandpiper Way }}</ref> bringing much-needed employment to the town.{{citation needed|date=November 2018}}
Another project of the Trust is [[The Ambler]], a bi-monthly community newspaper and website, established in 2000 and operated mainly by volunteers. The free bi-monthly newspaper is delivered to every house and business in the town.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Ambler |url=http://www.theambler.co.uk/about-us/ |access-date=24 January 2013}}</ref>