A BUSINESS development expert who moved to Morpeth five years ago is aiming to bring together commerce and community in his adopted hometown.

Dan Bond has created the first of what he hopes will be a series of websites pulling together information about the town for the good of both traders and local people.

The site – Morpethcentral.co.uk – includes a business directory, plus lists of events and information for both visitors and locals.

Bond, who moved to Morpeth from Ponteland, said: “This is very much about collating information for people in Morpeth and a 15-mile radius around Morpeth.

“There are 300-plus events every month. Anything for the common good, we’ll put on it. It’s all designed to get people into Morpeth.

“So many websites are ‘mock’ local and don’t relate to what’s happening. I created the database for Morpeth by walking around with my dog and writing all the businesses down.”

It has taken around a year to develop the software for the site from Bond’s original 15-page draft and he is now looking at transferring the concept to other locations.

“We’ve got the urls for Hexham, Durham, Newcastle and Carlisle,” said Bond.

“We hope to turn it into a franchise or a business model. We believe it’s transferable to any other market town with a similar demographic.”