From November 2020 to January 2021 Transport North East held a consultation on their draft transport plan for the North East up to 2035. This is the SPACE for Gosforth response.

We looked at the plan’s vision and objectives, and we looked at the schemes proposed. The vision talks about carbon reduction, health, reducing inequalities, safer streets and sustainable travel. The schemes include link roads, corridor improvements, capacity upgrades, addressing vehicle pinch points, dual carriageways and junction upgrades. These clearly don’t align.

We fully support the plan objectives, but the schemes need to be re-evaluated to select and expand those that support the objectives and reject those that do not.

Transport North East say they are working to “deliver game-changing transport schemes and initiatives.” and “to greatly improve the lives of everyone living or working in our region.” The current plan won’t do this, but we hope our and other’s feedback will be taken into account to produce a revised plan that will achieve the stated objectives.

Transport for the North East itself provides “strategy, planning and delivery services on behalf of the North East Joint Transport Committee (NEJTC)“, where the committee is made up of the region’s two Combined Authorities (North of Tyne Combined Authority covering Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland, and the North East Combined Authority covering Durham, Gateshead, Sunderland and South Tyneside).

Update 13 March 2021: Transport North East have produced their final plan for approval by local authorities. You can see the final plan and a “You said – we did” document explaining what changes have been made here.

The letter below is our group’s response to the original consultation in January 2021.

Dear Transport North East,

Re: North East Transport Plan Consultation – January 2021

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the North East Transport Plan. It is extremely positive to see The North East Combined Authority and The North of Tyne Combined Authority working together on a single coherent plan for the region.

We welcome and acknowledge the need, as you say, to “deliver profound and lasting improvements that will shape the North East and its people for decades to come.” We are in the midst of a Climate Emergency, a health crisis made worse because of existing high levels of poor health in part caused by inactivity, and scandalously we have still have not met legally-binding targets for air quality that came into force in 2005.

Between 2010 and 2019, 511 people were killed and 6,450 people were seriously injured on the North East’s roads. These are not just statistics, they were mums, dads, children, friends and neighbours. Almost half of those killed or seriously injured on the region’s roads were under 35 years old. Change is needed, and it is needed quickly, by 2025 not by 2035.

“The truth about a region’s aspirations isn’t found in its vision. It’s found in its budget.”

We’ve looked at the plan’s vision and objectives, and we’ve looked at the schemes proposed. The vision talks about carbon reduction, health, reducing inequalities, safer streets and sustainable travel. The schemes include link roads, corridor improvements, capacity upgrades, addressing vehicle pinch points, dual carriageways and junction upgrades. These clearly don’t align.

Carbon reduction, improved health and more sustainable travel all point to less vehicle traffic in future, not more. Building for more traffic while at the same time forecasting less traffic is just throwing money away, and will lead to more emissions and poor health outcomes.

While we acknowledge many of the schemes included do support active travel and public transport, for a region of two million people they could be substantially more ambitious than proposed, and achieve benefits far more quickly if funds weren’t being diverted to expensive schemes to create unneeded additional vehicle capacity.

The vision should define the destination

The plan vision needs to establish and make tangible what the end goal is and start to build towards that, so people understand the destination rather than only seeing individual steps on the journey. This will support both community buy-in to the plan and provide better focus for the initiatives that make up the plan.

It is not hard to envisage what this would look like. As a minimum it would need to include:

• Accessible and inclusive local streets with pavements that are not cluttered or used for parking.
• A defined road network for essential vehicle journeys, with reduced capacity compared to now, as fewer journeys will need a vehicle in future when other better options become available.
• Local roads that are not part of that main-road network that can be used for walking, cycling, socializing and street play, but not for through traffic (low traffic neighbourhoods).
• Junctions designed to prevent high-speed collisions and speed limits set to ensure collisions do not lead to serious injury or death.
• A region-wide network of safe walking and cycling routes to connect homes to shops, schools, parks and other local destinations and which support inclusive cycling and allow children to travel independently.
• An efficient high-frequency bus network with good quality interchanges and integration with walking and cycling routes for longer multi-modal journeys.

These alone would substantially achieve all the plan objectives with money to spare. The question for Transport North East is how quickly it can move to achieve this vision, so that everyone who lives in the North East can start to see and feel the benefits.

Transport North East has work to do to demonstrate this is not a ‘business as usual’ transport plan.

Substantially the objectives in the plan do speak to the serious economic, climate, air quality, health and wellbeing issues that are today caused by road transport, and need to be addressed through changes to the transport system. Good intentions though are not enough to achieve good outcomes.

As we have said, many of the actual schemes proposed are very much business as usual.

We therefore want to challenge Transport North East to come up with a revised set of schemes, including those on the list above, that will demonstrably prove this is not a ‘business as usual’ plan.

To be genuinely transformational, and not just business as usual, the plan should very clearly:

• Enable the five of seven local authorities that have set a target to be carbon neutral by 2030 to achieve that by substantially decarbonizing the transport system by 2030.
• Achieve zero killed and seriously injured on the region’s roads by 2025. (This should be part of the safe, secure network objective, not hidden away on page 33.)
• Create safe networks of routes leading to a step-change increase in walking and cycling for local (< 5 mile) journeys throughout the region.
• Demonstrate that Transport North East and the constituent authorities can act with the necessary pace and urgency to make these happen, with substantial progress by 2025 or sooner.

There’s no such thing as a ‘two minutes late for work emergency’

There is a Climate Emergency. Poor air quality is the largest environmental risk to public health in the UK. Physical inactivity is responsible for one in six UK deaths.

Choosing how the budget is allocated is a moral and political choice. Transport North East can either deliver profound and lasting improvements by prioritising the budget to address transport poverty, health, climate, economy and environment, or it can build more link roads to make driving marginally more attractive for a few years for people who can afford it. Almost certainly it won’t be possible to do both.

Please choose wisely.

We enclose our response to the consultation questions below.

Yours faithfully,

SPACE for Gosforth

www.spaceforgosforth.com

SPACE for Gosforth North East Transport Plan Questionnaire Response

2. Are you responding as an individual or on behalf of an organisation?

We are responding on behalf of the SPACE for Gosforth group, based in Gosforth in Newcastle upon Tyne. SPACE for Gosforth is a residents’ group with the aim of promoting healthy, liveable, accessible and safe neighbourhoods where walking and cycling are safe, practical and attractive travel options for residents of all ages and abilities. We are residents of Gosforth, most of us with families and we walk, cycle, use public transport and drive. SPACE stands for Safe Pedestrian and Cycling Environment.

6. Do we support the Vision Statement: “Moving to a green, healthy, dynamic and thriving North East”

Yes, we support the Vision Statement.

This needs to be brought to life and explained properly so people understand where the plan is, or should be according to the objectives, leading us. For example:

• Accessible and inclusive local streets with pavements that are not cluttered or used for parking.
• A defined road network for essential vehicle journeys, with reduced capacity compared to now, as fewer journeys will need a vehicle in future when other better options become available.
• Local roads that are not part of that main-road network that can be used for walking, cycling, socializing and street play, but not for through traffic (low traffic neighbourhoods).
• Speed limits set to ensure collisions do not lead to serious injury or death, and junctions designed to prevent high-speed collisions.
• A region-wide network of safe walking and cycling routes to connect homes to shops, schools, parks and other local destinations and which support inclusive cycling and allow children to travel independently.
• An efficient high-frequency bus network with good quality interchanges and integration with walking and cycling routes for longer multi-modal journeys

How much do you agree with each of the following objectives?

What do you think are the barriers to achieving each of these objectives?

The following are common barriers and / or risks that are likely to apply to all the objectives. We suggest these are included in a NE Transport Risk log to be tracked along with appropriate mitigations.

Governance and Leadership Risks

• Lack of political leadership and/or lack of alignment between political leaders.
• Lack of urgency to achieve committed timescales e.g. carbon neutral by 2030.
• Focusing on, and getting bogged down in, small incremental changes at the expense of the more widespread changes needed to achieve the objectives.
• Delays due to schemes not being initiated until the overall plan is agreed.
• Lack of clear prioritisation between objectives e.g. air quality limits need by law to be met ‘in the shortest possible timescale’ and the target for five of seven authorities is to be carbon neutral is 2030.
• Poor quality governance that means schemes, especially those that increase vehicle capacity, are implemented even if they don’t meet the NETP objectives.
• Failure to account for the longer-term impact of Covid in reducing demand for transport.
• Weak planning policies that lead to the creation of new car-dependant suburbs with no local facilities.
• Not exploring alternative revenue raising options for traffic demand management such as a workplace parking levy.

Risks relating to the selection of schemes

• Insufficient portion of the overall budget allocated to meet specific objectives.
• Too much focus on ‘encouragement’ rather than making changes to make streets safer to enable people to walk or cycle.
• Inappropriate allocation of the budget to the wrong schemes that either will not support the objectives or prevent budget being allocated to more effective, more strategically aligned, cheaper or quicker to deliver schemes.
• Over-reliance on traffic management changes, which are unlikely to achieve the objectives and risk inducing increasing traffic volumes and adding to pollution and emissions.
• A lack of measures to manage and reduce the demand for private vehicle travel.
• Promotion of headline-grabbing ‘mega-schemes’ that sound impressive but are less effective than using the same budget for a package of smaller measures.
• Continued over-reliance on traditional ‘predict and provide’ planning for new roads that assume increasing traffic levels even though the NETP objectives implicitly require that in future fewer vehicle miles will be driven than now.

Risks relating to Public Engagement

• Failing to make the case for urgent change through lack of, or poor quality public communications.
• Poor quality or overly-long consultations that delay implementation.
• Too much weight given to relatively minor objections, or issues that can be mitigated, compared to the benefits from achieving the plan objectives.
• Mixed messages vs other council policies e.g. free parking offers.

Risks relating to Implementation

• Over-reliance on modelling vs trialling changes.
• Lack of training and expertise within councils and suppliers to make the necessary change to move quickly from traditional vehicle-led design to people-led design of road schemes.

Further barriers and / or risks that apply to specific objectives are set out in the table below.

12. Are there any objectives you would have liked to see which are missing? If so, what are they?

Yes:

Better places – streets as places where we all live, play, socialize, exercise, shop & where people want to live.

13. Do you agree that individual projects will be required to submit Monitoring and Evaluation Plans?

Yes, we agree. The monitoring and evaluation plans need to assess whether schemes support achievement of the NETP objectives.

How much do you agree with the following policy statements?

31. Are there any comments you would like to make on the policy statements?

See table above.

32. Are there any policy statements which you think are missing?

Please see alternative proposals in the table above. In addition we would like to propose:

Active Travel – Streets are easier and safer to navigate for residents or visitors with limited mobility and for residents or visitors with disabilities or conditions for whom travel is a challenge.

Active Travel – There is good walking and cycling access to local community destinations including schools, shops, medical centres, work-places and transport hubs.

Active Travel – Streets are valued as places where people live, meet and socialise, and not just for travelling through.

33. What do you think of the timeline for the delivery of schemes up to 2035?

The pace of change in the plan is massively too slow and risks not achieving set targets especially:

• Achieving air quality legal limits ‘in the shortest possible timescales’.
• Achieving no fatalities or serious injuries on the regions’ road network by 2025.
• Achieving carbon neutral transport by 2030.

34. Are there any schemes which you feel are missing from this timeline? 


Schemes that support these urgent time-bound objectives should be prioritised and delivered early in the plan timescale. These can include:

• Widespread (region-wide) implementation of low traffic neighbourhoods and school streets.
• New main road crossings, in support of new safe walking and cycling networks.
• Narrowing lanes on urban main roads to 3m maximum width for improved safety for all users.
• Trial schemes to reallocate space on main roads to create wider pop-up protected cycle lanes.
• Review of speed limits to meet Vision Zero principles: 20 mph speed limits in cities, 40mph limits on rural minor roads.
• Clear Air Zones where air quality limits are currently not met.
• Using parking charges to manage and limit traffic demand in busy city centres, including workplace parking levies.
• New bus lanes, where space is not needed for walking and cycling facilities.
• Tightening entrances and exits from junctions to prevent vehicles from travelling through those junctions at high speeds, putting other users at risk.
• Better enforcement of traffic offences, including via the use of ANPR cameras.
• Improved winter maintenance of pavements and cycle lanes.
• On-street secure cycle storage (e.g. cycle hoops)
• Definition and implementation of a minimum viable cycle network that connects homes to major destinations and can then be expanded and improved on.
• Creation of a plan for a regional cycle network including traffic-free cycle links between adjacent urban areas e.g. Newcastle to Ponteland, Killingworth or Cramlington.

SPACE for Gosforth has previously submitted evidence-based suggestions for how to reduce carbon emissions to the Newcastle City Council climate change consultation, which can be found here: https://www.spaceforgosforth.com/evidence-about-climate-change/

SPACE for Gosforth has also completed a literature review to find what type of measures have evidence to show they are effective to reduce air pollution, which can be found here: https://www.spaceforgosforth.com/air-quality-what-works/

SPACE for Gosforth’s response to the Newcastle City Council Breathe Clean Air consultation, which proposes schemes to address air pollution in Newcastle can be found here: https://www.spaceforgosforth.com/tag/breathe-clean-air/

We would also like to propose the inclusion of this walking and cycling scheme by Regent Centre in Gosforth: https://www.spaceforgosforth.com/regent-centre/

35. Are there any schemes in our programme which you feel should not be included? 


Yes. Building for more traffic while at the same time forecasting less traffic is just throwing money away, and will lead to more emissions and poor health outcomes.

Link roads, corridor improvements, capacity upgrades, addressing vehicle pinch points, dual carriageways and junction upgrades are how we ended up with a climate crisis and illegal levels of air pollution. More of the same won’t address the climate crisis, won’t solve air pollution, won’t make it safer or more attractive to walk or cycle, won’t address transport poverty, and will further decimate local High Streets as people who can drive are incentivised to travel long-distances to out of town shopping centres rather than supporting local shops.

All the schemes that increase vehicle capacity and encourage more driving need to be re-examined to assess whether they will actually support the objectives or if there are better options including the use of traffic demand management to keep roads clear for those that need to drive most.

Schemes that should be re-evaluated and removed if not consistent with the objectives or if better options exist include:

• Schemes for new car parks, access roads and link roads,
• Additional lanes, dual carriageways, bypasses and any scheme that claims to improve ‘flow’,
• Junction changes designed to increase vehicle throughput, and ‘pinch point’ schemes,
• Changes to vehicle capacity made as part of ‘all user improvements’ or ‘strategic corridor improvements’, and
• Relief roads and new vehicle bridges.

36. Are there any other comments you would like to make? 


In our response to the NECA Walking and Cycling survey in 2017 we said the following, which is equally relevant to the NE Transport Plan.

The strategy [Plan] needs to recognise that every journey driven that could have been undertaken by foot or by cycle:

• Increases travelling cost for the person travelling, money that might otherwise have been spent in the local area.
• Adds to the overall cost of road maintenance.
• Worsens air quality and creates risks for other road users.
• Increases carbon emissions.
• Is a lost opportunity for fresh air and exercise.
• Creates additional demand for parking which means less land available for housing and other more productive uses.

Likewise for every neighbourhood designed to prioritise traffic over place we find:

• Children unable to play outside
• Teenagers not able to travel independently
• Older people stuck alone in their home
• And a community weakened through lack of on-street social interaction.
• Local shops and services diminished because of competition from out of town shopping centres.

Whether or not these are part of the thinking for the transport strategy, or part of its aims, these are the real life outcomes. Nor are these just words. Tens of thousands of people die early each year due to poor air quality near roads. Many more die due to other conditions and illnesses related to how we travel. For example “regular cycling cut the risk of death from any cause by 41%, the incidence of cancer by 45% and heart disease by 46%” (https://www.spaceforgosforth.com/cwis2017/)

By prioritising walking and cycling, the NECA Strategic Transport Plan can deal with air pollution, it can reduce social isolation, it can improve choice for how we travel and make neighbourhoods more accessible for those with reduced mobility. It can reduce road injuries and deaths and reduce the fear that people feel when travelling on foot or by cycle. It can enable children’s independence so they can travel to go to school or play outside with their friends. It can enable people to travel to work and make them feel better when they get there. And it can align individual and community-wide incentives to ensure the transport system as a whole is as efficient as possible.

We hope that Transport North East will seize this opportunity and put in place a robust and well-funded plan to address all these issues as a matter of urgency.

For reference, we have previously responded to two NECA consultations and a consultation by Transport for the North.

The 20 year transport manifesto for the North East, in April 2016 – https://www.spaceforgosforth.com/neca-2016/

The July 2017 NECA Walking and Cycling survey – https://www.spaceforgosforth.com/neca-survey-2017/

Transport for the North Strategic Transport Plan April 2018 – https://www.spaceforgosforth.com/tfn_consultation_questions/

The post North East Transport Plan Consultation – January 2021 appeared first on SPACE for Gosforth.

Newcastle City Council have proposed that Blackett Street and parts of New Bridge Street are made into a pedestrian area linking Northumberland Street, Monument and Old Eldon Square. This blog is our response to the Council’s consultation.

The other changes to the City Centre proposed alongside the Blackett Street plan include:

• Buses that previously used Blackett Street will now use the new bus loop (for a map see our response below).
• Revised arrangements for access and deliveries to minimise traffic in the new pedestrian areas.
• A new pedestrian and event space on Ridley Place at the north end of Northumberland Street.
• New / relocated disabled parking and taxi ranks.
• Cycling infrastructure on adjoining junctions.

More details of the proposals and a link to the consultation (which finishes on 31 January 2020) can be found here.

Dear Councillor Ainsley,

Re: Transforming our city

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Council’s proposals relating to Blackett Street and surrounding areas.

We wholeheartedly support the Council’s ambition for Newcastle upon Tyne to be “A place that has cleaner air and puts people first, and where public transport and healthy, active travel, such as cycling, and walking is a choice for everyone.”

Currently air quality on Blackett Street and New Bridge Street is poor; almost double the legal limit for air pollution in 2018. Large numbers of buses dominate the street, putting people at risk, in some cases with tragic consequences. On Blackett Street in February 2019, a gentleman was killed on his mobility scooter just trying to cross the road.

Traffic Injury and Pollution Data for Blackett Street and the surrounding area

Because of the large number of buses, cycling on Blackett Street and New Bridge Street is only currently a choice for the brave and doesn’t support the Council’s policy that “streets and roads should be designed to be safely used by children and those with limited mobility” [City Council October 2019].

Life and health should not be traded for other benefits. People have a right to be able to travel safely, and simple errors shouldn’t lead to someone being seriously injured or killed.

Richard Grainger’s Vision: A “City of Palaces”

Grainger Town has been a place of forward-thinking innovation combined with elegance and beauty for almost 200 hundred years.  Richard Grainger transformed the area from the remains of a medieval and industrial city and created “a City of Palaces; a fairyland of newness, brightness and modern elegance.” (William Howlett 1842) https://www.newcastle.gov.uk/our-city/history-and-heritage

Richard Grainger’s original vision for Grainger Town was for streets and buildings to be “promenaded” around as well as lived in. The 1997-2003 Grainger Town project recognised this by having as one of its aims to create “a high quality pedestrian-priority precinct, encouraging appreciation of the surrounding architecture, and transforming the experience of walking through this area and promoting civic activity.”
https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100510223103/http://www.cabe.org.uk/case-studies/grainger-town

Currently, a very large part of the road space on Blackett Street and New Bridge Street is reserved for vehicles with people squashed to either side.

Current vehicle-priority on Blackett Street

The Council now needs to complete the Grainger Town vision by making Blackett Street and Old Eldon Square traffic-free, and it should do so as soon as possible to address Blackett Street’s poor air quality and road safety issues.

Northumberland Street, which is already traffic-free, gives us an idea of what Blackett Street could be like, with much lower levels of pollution, virtually no traffic-related injuries in the last ten years and thriving businesses. The closure in 1998 is evidence that removing vehicle traffic not only works but allows an area to thrive. A generation on and the number of shoppers along Northumberland Street would be impossible to sustain if this street had continued to support two-way vehicle traffic. Complaints that Christmas stalls and rides had restricted the space in Northumberland Street only serve to demonstrate how the pedestrianised area is not only now accepted, but fiercely protected.

No one would suggest now that the city should turn Northumberland Street into a bus station, and in years to come people will wonder why the same was ever allowed on Old Eldon Square.

Blackett Street south frontage – January 2020

Old Eldon Square has the potential to be one of the best locations in the city centre but is currently dirty, noisy and dangerous. Apart from the east side where John Dobson’s original buildings survive, Old Eldon Square is surrounded by dark brown brick walls that make it look like the goods entrance to an out of town shopping centre. Making it traffic-free will allow these blank walls to be brought back to life with new businesses, street cafes and planting, and allow the square to be used for public events without risking the wellbeing of the people attending.

Blackett Street full of people on a summer Saturday

Detail Feedback

As above, we strongly support the removal of traffic from the areas identified in the Council’s plan. The following detail feedback is about proposed changes to transport arrangements.

1.     Buses and Accessibility

We support the concept of the Bus Loop, as set out in Council Policy UC7 adopted in March 2015, and that, as per that policy, this should be “the principal route for buses within the Urban Core to ensure there is good service around and to the edge of the retail area with 
less reliance on the routes that cut across it.”

We note that only one of the three main bus companies that serve Newcastle city centre currently uses bus stops on Blackett Street, and that passengers that use buses provided by the other two companies do not suffer unduly as a result. Blackett Street will be no further from the new bus loop than Northumberland Street is from the current nearest bus stops.

However, it must be acknowledged that passengers arriving by buses that currently stop on Blackett Street will have a variety of destinations and may want to connect to other bus or Metro services. We would therefore encourage the Council to work with bus companies to ensure that passengers have a choice of routes that allow them to access different destinations within the city. This could be achieved through the accessible, and preferably electric-powered, city centre bus shuttle idea we suggested in our response to the Council’s “Breathe” Air Quality consultation. Currently someone transferring from an east-west bus to one heading north would have a six-minute walk from Blackett Street to Haymarket.

Clearly different people will also have different mobility needs and it is important to ensure that Newcastle is accessible as possible for people with disabilities. We would therefore like to see the Shopmobility scheme expanded to better cater for public transport users rather than requiring people to drive and park to access this service. In fact, regardless of the outcome of this consultation we would like to see this idea taken forward. This could be funded by NE1 instead of their free parking offer, which by reducing the incentive to drive would also help reduce congestion and pollution in the city centre.

Not just buses on Blackett Street

In addition to the above we suggest:

1. To avoid delay to public transport, other vehicle traffic on the bus loop should be minimised as far as possible. All non-stopping traffic should be directed to use the Urban Core Distributor ring road, and the busiest sections of the bus loop should be bus-only.
2. For the same reason, the Council should remove non-stopping through-traffic from Percy Street and Mosley Street, both of which are identified in the Council’s Policy map as Public Transport Distributor Roads.
3. Good quality well-lit walking routes should be provided from the bus loop to major city destinations including the RVI, with clear signage to show the way. Footways should be free from obstruction and wide enough for when they are at their busiest. Signalised crossings should prioritise people on foot with short wait times and comfortable crossing times.
4. Maps should be displayed at regular intervals and at bus stops showing walking routes and which bus stops serve which routes.
5. Multiple options for connectivity between bus routes and with the Metro should be provided to passengers have a choice of routes. E.g. someone travelling west to east across the city may wish to change from a bus to a Metro at St James to avoid city centre congestion, or if travelling east to north a change at Haymarket Bus Station would be better rather than the current six-minute walk from Blackett Street.
6. Bus stops should be good quality and provide shelter and seating for waiting passengers.
7. Vehicle speeds should be rigorously monitored to ensure all traffic sticks to the 20mph limit.
8. In the interim, prior to this proposal being implemented, the Council should enforce existing bus-only regulations on Blackett Street and Grey Street.

Newcastle City Centre Bus Loop and Public Transport Distributor Roads

2.     Cycling

In October 2019, City Council agreed a motion on cycling that said that “Cycle and walking routes should be abundantly available especially within a 3-mile radius of the city centre or major transport interchanges.”

This motion acknowledged the clear benefits of cycling for health and life expectancy, the ability to move more people in the same space, reducing the cost of travel for residents and helping to reduce air pollution and green house gas emissions. In addition, many studies have shown how good cycling facilities are good for local businesses.

Government guidance states that Councils should aim for a 400m grid of routes that are safe for all age and ability cycling and allow access to key destinations. 400m is about the same distance as Haymarket Metro to the south end of Northumberland Street. This, along with the Council’s adopted policy, suggests that safe cycling routes should be provided on Blackett Street and on a tight grid of connecting cycling routes throughout the city centre, including in Zone 3 ‘Other areas of the city’.

The Council has previously produced graphics to illustrate what might be possible on Blackett Street.  Traffic-free cycle lanes such as those shown, which are clearly marked and not shared with people walking, have been found to work better for people walking as well as people cycling. To gain the maximum benefit there also need to be safe onward links to the wider city cycle network at both east and west ends and connecting south to Grainger Street and Grey Street.

Newcastle City Council Blackett Street mock-ups from 2017

Living Streets have produced a report about problems with shared walking and cycling routes, and although the report concludes that issues with sharing are less at destinations where there are high numbers of people walking, there is plenty of space to provide separate lanes so sharing is not required.
https://www.livingstreets.org.uk/media/1864/sharing-the-space-report.pdf

The Council motion on cycling also supported the addition of secure cycle parking. This provision should be spread throughout the city centre and the Council should consider family users (multiple bikes of different sizes including children’s bikes, cargo bikes and women’s bike frames) when selecting what types or combinations of racks to use.

We also suggest that the Council propose to local bus companies that they should provide training for their drivers in how to drive around and safely overtake people cycling.
E.g. https://www.bikeradar.com/news/bus-and-lorry-drivers-to-get-cycle-safety-training/

3.     Parking

On-street parking should be minimised within the Urban Core. Where it is provided it should be priced in order to encourage people to use the major car parks and to reduce traffic circulating to look for on-street parking spaces. Best practice suggests that pricing should aim to have at least 20% of on- street spaces free at any given time so that people who need it can easily find a space to park.

We support appropriate placement of disabled parking spaces, including in the city’s major car parks, and would like to encourage the Council to also find ways to better support people with disabilities to walk, cycle or use public transport.

4.     Beyond the Bus Loop – further development

The Council in its consultation documentation states that as a city ‘we’re growing, changing and investing in tomorrow. After all, great cities don’t stand still.’

We would like to suggest that once the changes being consulted on have been approved, the Council convenes a Grainger Town working group made up of major businesses and employers, transport providers, transport user and residents’ groups that support that Council’s ambition for ‘a place that has cleaner air and puts people first, and where public transport and healthy, active travel, such as cycling, and walking is a choice for everyone.‘ and to realise the  ‘City of Palaces’ vision.

Such a group would require a clear terms of reference that sets out how it will support the Council to achieve its policy goals and avoid further delay that might prevent air quality or safety targets being met.

Ideas for this group to look at might include:

• Extending the benefits of clean air and reduced traffic on adjoining streets by for example removing on-street parking on Grey Street and replacing it with extended pavements and greenery.
• Installing water fountains and/or play features for children.
• Walking routes and signage.
• Options for making the city centre more accessible for people with disabilities.
• City centre cycle hire.
• Low carbon last-mile deliveries.
• Installation of electric power for events to replace diesel generators.

Conclusion

Old Eldon Square is a key destination in its own right, and the removal of vehicle traffic creates opportunities for regeneration and more events for the benefit of the city and its residents.

It is also currently an air pollution and road danger ‘hot spot’, but has a high potential to be improved for people walking and for east-west journeys by people cycling who are currently excluded from this area by the high volumes of buses and other traffic.

The Council has been working on these plans since at least November 2017 and the proposed arrangements have been trialled on numerous occasions. The Council should now move quickly to make Blackett Street and New Bridge Street traffic-free well before summer 2020, even if initially with temporary measures, to bring air quality in line with the government directive and to prevent more people being seriously injured or killed.

In 2015, the Newcastle Chronicle published an article stating 23 pedestrians had been killed or injured by buses in the city since 2012.  These concerns are not new and will not go away without the sort of action proposed by the Council for Blackett Street and New Bridge Street.

In the interim the Council should ensure residents and users of Old Eldon Square are aware of the high levels of air pollution and that people should not spend more time than necessary in the area. While we understand why the Council has permitted events in the square in the past, no further licences should be issued until the traffic has been removed. This includes the Screen on the Green.

Yours sincerely,

SPACE for Gosforth
www.spaceforgosforth.com

Traffic-Related Injuries on Blackett Street and New Bridge Street

1.     “Man taken to hospital with chest pains following two-vehicle crash in Newcastle city centre” January 2020
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/man-taken-hospital-chest-pains-17619592

2.     “Man on mobility scooter hit by bus in Newcastle city centre dies in hospital a day later” February 2019
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/man-mobility-scooter-hit-bus-15829419

3.     “Pensioner in hospital after bus crash which brought city centre street to halt” December 2017
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/pensioner-hospital-after-bus-crash-14045173

4.     “Six passengers injured after bus suddenly brakes in Newcastle city centre” October 2016
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/six-passengers-injured-after-bus-11971358

5.     “Newcastle Council reassures pedestrians after 23 are killed or injured by buses since 2012” May 2015 including:

1. April 2014 “Paramedics called to Blackett Street, close to Grey’s Monument, where a woman in her 50s was lying in the road after being hit by a bus. She was taken by ambulance to the city’s Royal Victoria Infirmary, where she was treated for head injuries not thought to be serious”
2. October 2012 “A man in his 20s was struck by the Stagecoach number 63 on New Bridge Street West, at its busy junction with Northumberland Street. He was taken to hospital “to be treated for a sore elbow”
3. September 2012 “An 84-year-old was taken to hospital with head and arm injuries after he was hit trying to cross Blackett Street near to the bottom of Northumberland Street”
4. August 2012 “A man in his 20s was hit as he attempted to cross New Bridge Street West, near the end of Northumberland Street”
   https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/newcastle-council-reassures-pedestrians-after-9201042

6.     “Accident in Newcastle City Centre” October 2013
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/incoming/gallery/accident-in-newcastle-city-centre-6131187

7.     “Another pedestrian hit by bus in Newcastle city centre” October 2013
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/another-pedestrian-hit-bus-newcastle-6130774

8.     “Eighth victim of a bus accident in seven months” February 2013
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/local-news/eighth-victim-bus-accident-seven-1372201

9.     “Man hurt in bus crash” January 2007
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/man-hurt-in-bus-crash-1479757

10.  “Chaos as man injured by bus” October 2003
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/chaos-man-injured-bus-1664547

Other relevant press stories

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/business/business-news/ambitious-plans-transform-newcastle-city-13913379 Ambitious plans to transform Newcastle city centre – November 2017

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/plans-breathe-new-life-newcastle-13933605 November 2017 cabinet approval

“Outside of London, Newcastle’s Northumberland Street is the next most expensive shopping road in the UK, with an annual rent of £1,742 per square metre.” 2004  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3954649.stm

The post Blackett Street appeared first on SPACE for Gosforth.

In our previous blog on Horrible Haddricks Mill, we set out how we had written to the Council to set out our concerns about safety, poor quality of the design and potential negative impact, especially on older or visually impaired people.

We know from our own measurements that there is space for separate, good quality walking and cycling provision at Haddricks Mill, but that the Council has chosen, contrary to its own policy and legal obligation to reduce air pollution, to prioritise high-speed and potentially dangerous vehicle movements instead.

In speaking to the Council, the Council gave a number of reasons why they believe that shared pavements and indirect wiggly walking and cycling routes via multi-stage crossings are appropriate.

These reasons were:

1. People walking or cycling can use alternative routes.
2. The junction needs to have wide lanes for buses and freight.
3. There isn’t space on the bridge for a pavement and cycle lanes.
4. There isn’t enough space on the approach roads.
5. Traffic Management is needed to improve air quality.

We have examined and responded to each of these reasons below.

1. People walking or cycling can use alternative routes.

One argument was that walking and cycling would be better provided for using alternative routes.

Haddricks Mill itself is a key crossing of the Ouseburn, which creates a bit of a barrier for east – west travel in the city. The junction is key not just for vehicle traffic but also for walking and cycling.

We looked at the other options for crossing the Ouseburn, and while there are more options for walking and cycling, most are not suitable after dark and the existing provision for walking and cycling is poor.

The route map below is from the SPACE for Gosforth blog A Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan for Gosforth. In that blog we set out how walking and cycling networks need to connect people to destinations, and that adjacent routes should not be too far apart. Government guidance for cycling is that adjacent routes should be about 400m apart which means that all the routes highlighted above need to be upgraded rather than considering them as alternatives.

2. The junction needs to have wide lanes for buses and freight 

Clearly Haddricks Mill is used by buses and for local freight, but there is a question of how and to what extent that should influence the design.

The Council’s own Core Strategy includes a hierarchy of sustainable modes of transport where walking and cycling are placed ahead of buses and freight as well as ‘protecting and enhancing pedestrian routes, cycle networks and Rights of Way’.

In addition, the Council’s Development and Allocations Plan confirms that on main roads ‘Pedestrian and cycle movements should be segregated from traffic’ and that ‘routes must be legible, inviting, direct, pleasant and easy to use’. Other than for a short distance on Haddricks Mill Road where the Council is proposing separate walking and cycling routes, the current Haddricks Mill proposal fails on all five counts.

The North East Freight Partnership publishes route maps that it expects freight organisations to use wherever possible. These routes are shown as dashed lines on the map below. These show that Haddricks Mill, the double circle in the centre of the map, is not on any designated freight route.

Freight Route map showing routes to Gosforth Industrial Estate (29), Gosforth High Street (30) and to Balliol (3), Quorum (4) and Gosforth (28) business parks.

For buses we looked at the turn from Freeman Road left towards Station Road as an example. There are about five buses an hour that make this movement.

In the Council’s proposal the road retains a wide sweep which means vehicles, including buses, can travel around the corner at a relatively high speed. When designing for safety it is generally understood that a tighter curve prevents higher speeds and therefore avoids the most serious collisions. Because of the poor quality of proposals a large proportion of people who currently cycle are likely to continue to use the road so would be put at risk by this proposal.

In the diagram below we have compared the turn at Haddricks Mill with the turn from Church Road to Gosforth High Street, which is the route taken by the number 54 bus. While it might not be desirable to use exactly this geometry, it certainly demonstrates that the turn could be substantially tighter, and safer, than is currently proposed. If this was done it would create additional space that could be used for separate walking and cycling routes.

What would be more useful for buses would be to introduce bus lanes on Haddricks Mill Road and Benton Park Road to allow buses to get ahead of queuing traffic. This would also assist air quality as buses would not have to wait for so long to pass through the junction.

3. There isn’t space on the bridge for a pavement and cycle lanes. 

The bridge across the Ouseburn has been quoted as the narrowed part of the junction but even here it would be possible to include separate walking and cycling lanes.

Measuring on Google Earth the width of the bridge looks to be close to 23m at its narrowest point including current pavements. Using the StreetMix website we can see that it would be possible, shown in the diagram below, to have two 1.8m pavements, two 3m bi-directional cycle lanes and four 3.2m traffic lanes.

If the western roundabout was made single-lane then only one west bound vehicle lane would be required creating even more space for additional pavement or possibly a verge between the cycle lane and traffic.

Having less sweeping entry lanes would also reduce the additional distance people will have to walk when going around the junction.

4. There isn’t enough space on the approach roads

The picture below that we shared in our blog Must do better about the Killingworth Road road works, shows just how much space is being taken up by the central crossing islands. If the crossings were made to be single-stage there would be plenty of space for good quality separate walking and cycling routes.

The use of multi-stage crossings is not to benefit people walking or cycling. The purpose instead is to prioritise traffic movement, with ‘sheep pens’ in the middle of the road to prevent people walking from using the most obvious direct route. In practice many people will just ignore the lights and cross directly to the pavement in the middle of the picture, and in fact several did so just in the few minutes while I was there taking the picture.

On Benton Park Road, on the approach to the roundabout, the proposed west-bound lanes by themselves take up over 12m so to suggest there is no space for an all age and ability protected cycle lane there is completely ridiculous.

5. Traffic Management is needed to improve air quality

The Council have also argued that increasing the vehicle capacity of the junction will improve air quality. We can see how the Council might justify this via their transport models but the outputs for such models almost entirely depend on getting the right inputs, in this case how many vehicles will use the junction after capacity is increased. If the capacity is used up, as is usually the case in practice, then queuing times remain as they are, only with a greater number of vehicles emitting a larger amount of pollution.

Even the Government has cast doubt on the effectiveness of traffic management, such as is proposed at Haddricks Mill, to reduce air pollution.  The only really effective ways of reducing pollution are cleaner engines and reducing the number of vehicles. The main effect of the approach proposed by the Council, using the “pedestrian” lights to hold back traffic so traffic arriving from other directions can enter the junction, will be to make it slower and less attractive to walk or cycle. As a result more people will choose to drive.

Our biggest concern for pollution however is Station Road, which had illegal air pollution prior to the roadworks, and would be likely to return to illegal levels of air pollution now Killingworth Road has re-opened to traffic. The Council’s most recent update to its air pollution plans include no measures to reduce pollution on Station Road.

Killingworth Road itself should benefit from having a wider road that allows pollution to dissipate more quickly, and a new bus lane that means buses do not have to queue for so long.

Fears pollution levels will be dangerously high again at controversial Killingworth Roadhttps://t.co/eAJBUIAUOb

— The Chronicle (@ChronicleLive) June 4, 2019

The table below shows the impact of closing Killingworth Road to air pollution on Station Road, and also at North Tyneside’s Longbenton monitoring sites.

Although people assume that traffic, and therefore pollution, will have increased on the Great North Road and Benton Road, monitoring data suggests that actually traffic levels did not change as a result of the roadworks.  This effect, described as ‘Disappearing Traffic‘, which means that large parts of the Killingworth Road traffic disappeared rather than re-routing, almost certainly explains the slight decrease in pollution levels in Longbenton during the road works.

Next steps

The Council say they want to encourage more people to walk or cycle as an alternative to driving. Building junctions that prioritise traffic volume over people’s safety is not the way to achieve it.

SPACE for Gosforth has shared this analysis with the Council’s transport team.

The post Horrible Haddricks – part 2 appeared first on SPACE for Gosforth.

Your Streets – Your Views

We want to know what you think about your streets.

If you live in the former East or West Gosforth council wards or in Parklands ward, you should have had a survey leaflet through your door.

You can do the survey online, or fill in the leaflet and post it back to us, until Sunday 25 November.

Please tell your friends, family and neighbours about the survey and ask them to do it too. The more people who take part, the better the picture we will have of Gosforth as a whole. We are interested in everyone’s views – no matter how young or old you are, or how you travel.

If you or you know of anyone who may have visual impairments and would like help to understand the information and/or help completing the survey please do let us know. Even if we are unable to help with the current leaflet it will assist us for future publications.

Survey Leaflet front page – Click for a larger version.

Click here for a pdf version of the survey leaflet.

Here’s some more info on some of the issues we’ve thought about:

Any questions? Just ask in the comments below.

Please complete the survey online here: 

Lastly, if you’re not already a member of SPACE for Gosforth, you can join here – it’s free!

Thank you!

The printing and distribution of the survey leaflet has been made possible by grants from East and West Gosforth and Parklands council wards. Further details on funding are provided at the end of this blog.

We’ve worked out from bus timetables that there are more than 25 stopping services travelling down the Great North road every hour, so you will rarely have to wait more than a few minutes if you want to catch a bus to Gosforth High Street or the city centre.

It is also possible to catch express buses from Brunton Lane, Regent Centre or the High Street by The Brandling Arms into the city or out into Northumberland. These buses are also used by people living outside the city to shop and use the services on Gosforth High Street.

Guide Dogs, who commissioned the research we have quoted from, want pavement parking to be the exception, not the norm. This is their campaign video.

RNIB also campaigns on Pavement Parking. They say “Clear pavements are essential for blind and partially sighted people.”

Pavement parking can also damage paving slabs, creating trip hazards and requiring costly repairs.

Arguably it is worse than that. The Chronicle has reported that Newcastle is home to four of Britain’s most dangerous roundabouts. Two of these, the most dangerous roundabouts in Britain, were Blue House and Haddricks Mill junctions, both in Gosforth.

We are still waiting for the Council to act to improve safety at these roundabouts and at other locations in Gosforth. This is the video released by the council in 2016 explaining why these junctions need to change.

Maps are available on-line showing where people have been injured in road traffic collisions. This map and the one on the printed leaflet are from www.crashmap.co.uk.

This shows very clearly that Gosforth High Street also has a poor safety record.

How can we stop people, our friends and family, being injured or killed on the roads?

Street design is key – to prevent excessive speed and to keep people and vehicles separate.

Two very effective approaches are Sustainable Road Safety from the Netherlands and Vision Zero, which originated in Sweden but has now been adopted internationally. Both approaches start from the view point that people are only human, so roads should be designed to minimise injury rather than relying on road users to always follow rules and avoid mistakes.

In 2009, Newcastle City Council commissioned a survey about how children travel to school as input to its Draft Sustainable Modes of Travel Strategy. This was one of the most striking results.

Road danger is a very real issue. In Gosforth children have reported prams nearly being knocked over and cars driving very close to children on bikes and scooters.

There is no reason children shouldn’t walk or cycle to school, if streets are designed to accommodate them and protect them from danger. This video is from the Bicycle Dutch blog showing how a Sustainable Road Safety approach does exactly this.

In the UK as a whole, children are losing the ability to travel independently, are now the least active in history, and we have record high levels of severe obesity in ten and eleven year olds. Having an environment where children can be independent and active would help to address all these problems.

Everyone should be able to travel safely and feel safe while they do so, regardless of whether they happen to be walking, cycling, driving or using public transport.

Nationally many people say they don’t feel comfortable cycling in traffic and Gosforth is no exception. Despite that, in Newcastle, currently about 7,000 return cycle trips are made daily by people that could have used a car. If these cars were all in a traffic jam it would tail back 21 miles.

It is perhaps not surprising then that the Netherlands, with it’s well designed cycling facilities, has been ranked the best country in the world for driving, and that Dutch children are the happiest in the world,

This video is about cycling in Newcastle’s twin city Groningen, where 60% of all traffic movements are by bicycle. Imagine the tail backs if all those journeys were by car. It’s quite a long video (15 minutes) but it doesn’t take long to get the idea of what it’s like.

Newcastle would be an ideal place for cycling if only there were more facilities to make it safe to do so. It is one of the driest cities in the UK, as well as being relatively flat and compact.

We’ve written about how we could build a safe cycling network for Gosforth, and about routes in Gosforth that are suitable for children and those which are not. Grandstand Road is a good example of a road with cycle lanes that aren’t suitable for children, nor for most adults. We’ve also asked the Council to prioritise clearing snow and ice from busy pavements and cycle paths.

Healthy streets improve people’s health, make places socially and economically vibrant and environmentally sustainable. The Healthy Street approach aims for streets that are safer, cleaner, quieter and where people feel welcome.

Part of this is designing streets so that walking and cycling are seen to be really good options for local journeys. Just walking or cycling to work can dramatically improve your health. According to Glasgow University, people who commute by cycle have 41% lower risk of premature death. That’s despite additional danger due to cycling in traffic. People who walk to work have a 27% lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

We have produced a summary Case for Healthy Streets, which includes links to evidence about how more active travel improves people’s health, the environment and the economy. Walking and cycling also saves money (cycling rather than driving is equivalent to a 8% pay rise). We have also asked if protected cycle lanes are good for business? The evidence says they are.

Healthy streets are also accessible for people with disabilities. You can read our blogs about our blind walk Gosforth High Street and reviewing the new Salters Road junction. The Equalities Act 2010 requires that Highways Authorities do not put people with disabilities at a substantial disadvantage compared with someone who is not disabled. We have written about how this applies to the Three Mile Inn footbridge. The same is true for the footbridge over the Metro from Hunter’s Road to Garden Village.

We are fortunate in Gosforth that most residential streets have a 20mph limit. 20mph is set to minimise the likelihood of serious injury or death following a collision.

Even at 20mph there is a 5% chance of death following a collision between someone walking and a car. At 30mph that increases to 40%, and at 40mph there is an 80% chance of death. These are average figures so for older or younger people the risk of death will be higher again. This should be reason enough for everyone to drive within the speed limits.

Using Council data we have worked out how many vehicles are being driven faster than the speed limit for a number of roads in Gosforth. The graph below is for Ilford Road. You can see the other graphs on our Flickr Album and in our blog 1000 Speeding Drivers – A typical day on Gosforth’s back streets. We have also written about Gosforth’s speed cameras.

It is also clear that most of these residential streets are being used as cut-throughs for traffic in addition to their main purpose of providing access to people’s homes. The presence of so much traffic makes it harder to make these streets safe. Some streets in and around Gosforth have barriers to prevent through traffic making them much quieter and safer places to live. For example see Yetlington Drive, Rokeby Drive or Rothwell Road (links go to Google StreetView).

Even though long term air pollution is improving, Government advice still states that “Air pollution poses the biggest environmental threat to public health.”

In the Government’s Air Quality Plan for Nitrogen Dioxide it clarifies the main source of this pollution: “road vehicles contribute about 80% of NO₂ pollution at the roadside and growth in the number of diesel cars has exacerbated this problem.” In 2017 there were 12.4 million diesel vehicles on the road, compared to less than 6 million in 2005, when NO₂ emission targets first came into effect.

The Royal College of Physicians released a report in 2016 that estimated 40,000 deaths a year are linked to air pollution  “The report notes examples [of the dangerous impact of air pollution] from right across an individual’s lifespan, from a baby’s first weeks in the womb through to the years of older age, including the adverse effects of air pollution on the development of the fetus, with emphasis on lung and kidney development, miscarriage, and increases in heart attacks and strokes for those in later life. Associated links to asthma, diabetes, dementia, obesity and cancer for the wider population are also included.”

In The Chronicle Councillor Forbes, leader of Newcastle City Council, has said: “I am really concerned that poor air quality is killing people in our city. We have figures that show that 360 lives are cut short every year due to poor air quality. This is not a sustainable position.”

Part of why we have highlighted the school run is because the Department for Transport has estimated that one in four cars at peak times are on the school run. It is not enough though just to tell parents to let their children walk and/or cycle. The roads need to be safe for them to do so.

All those children who are taken to school by car will be exposed to more air pollution than children who walk or cycle, even if they walk or cycle on the same polluted streets.

King’s College London have produce a video showing an experiment they tried measuring how the way we travel affects the amount of pollution we are exposed to.

The most recent official update for the year 2017 has just been released and it shows the north end of Gosforth High Street as having the worst reading for air pollution of any in the city.

The Council is now required to produce a plan to bring air pollution in Gosforth and Newcastle within legal limits within the shortest possible timescales. We should see this plan early in 2019.

If you want to find out more, SPACE for Gosforth has written widely on the subject of air pollution including:
– Air Quality Update 2017
– Air Quality Update 2016
– The dangers of air pollution – Dr Chris Stenton
– February 2018 Policy Cabinet Meeting – Air Quality
– 2018 – 10 years of the Gosforth and City Centre AQMAs
– Alive After 65 – Live Long with Clean Air
– The New Newcastle Air Pollution Plan
– No idling – make every day a cleaner air day

FINALLY…

Sunday 18 November is World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. Please spare a thought for those that have lost friends and loved ones as a result of a road traffic collision.

Notes on Funding / Acknowledgements

The printing and distribution of the survey leaflet has been made possible by Ward Funding from the former East and West Gosforth wards and from Parklands ward. Ward Funding is available for small scale projects that benefit the local community, which can include the sharing of information to raise awareness of issues. Details of criteria that applications must meet and how to apply are available here. Details of awards made are recorded in ward meeting minutes available from the Council website and/or available from the Council Communities team.

In December 2017, SPACE for Gosforth applied for funding from former East and West Gosforth wards totalling £959.20 and was awarded £707.03, made up of £297.13 from East Gosforth and £409.90 from West Gosforth.  More recently Parklands ward Councillors agreed to top this up by a further £307 to allow us to print and distribute leaflets to households in Parklands ward. For context the total Parklands ward budget for this financial year is £5,807. SPACE for Gosforth is also contributing additional funds to deliver leaflets to approximately 1200 addresses in Coxlodge east of Kenton Road.

As well as printing and distribution to households in the three wards, the funding will also allow us to hold a public meeting to present the results to any residents that are interested. We will share details of the meeting via our email list and on Facebook and Twitter once dates are confirmed.

The preparation of the survey/leaflet has been the result of many hours of unpaid work by SPACE for Gosforth members over a long period, and we are very grateful for everyone who has given their time to help get to where we are, and to everyone who has offered to assist in future with the analysis and presentation of the survey results.  We are also very grateful to local company Autism Works for agreeing to manage the receipt of paper surveys submitted via the post and to local residents’ groups for support in sharing the survey and encouraging people to respond.

In submitting this application our main objectives were to:
(a) share information we have gathered via a fact-sheet to provide residents with a useful resource to help understand local transport-related issues; and
(b) seek input and views from local residents relating to issues, priorities and ideas for addressing those issues.

We would welcome your feedback on whether we have met these aims and/or any offers of help or suggestions for future activities.

The original application also included a request to fund a SPACE for Gosforth banner and business cards to assist engagement at community events, however we currently do not expect that we will have sufficient funds to cover these from the Ward Funding.

A copy of the application form as submitted to East and West Gosforth wards is available here for anyone who is interested.

The post Your Streets – Your Views appeared first on SPACE for Gosforth.

In January 2018, Newcastle City Council agreed to allow North Gosforth Parish Council the option to adopt the two stone/concrete bus shelters on the east side of the Great North Road. In the same meeting, the City Council outlined the concerns that residents had shared with them about these existing shelters and their plans to install new shelters to resolve these concerns and meet accessibility standards.

Following this meeting, the North Gosforth Parish Council confirmed it wished to pursue the option so the City Council issued statutory notices to effect this transfer, which were displayed on the two bus shelters. This is the SPACE for Gosforth response to that consultation. Pictures have been added for this blog but were not part of the response sent to the Council.

A copy of the full presentation from the January meeting is available as part of our Broadway to Brunton Cycle Lane – Consultation Review.

Re: NOTICE UNDER SECTION 115G OF THE HIGHWAYS ACT 1980

We are writing to you regarding the proposal to grant permission to North Gosforth Parish Council to maintain the Great North Road Bus Shelter(s).

We emailed the North Gosforth Parish Council on 16 April 2018 to seek further information as to their plans for the bus shelter so we had the most up to date information. While we have now received a reply it does not provide any further information on this matter. Although the Parish Council have not confirmed to us directly, we infer from the on-line Parish Council minutes that the Parish Council have not (yet) considered the concerns we raised with them. As there appears to be no plan to address those concerns we find we have no real choice but to object to the Section 115G notice(s).

We do wish to be clear that in principle we support the retention of “heritage assets” and the work of community groups to look after their local environment; so if such a plan does exist, or can be created as part of the proposed licence agreement, then we will be happy to withdraw these objections.

It is also worth noting that none of these objections should come as a surprise for anyone involved, not least that many were discussed explicitly at the January Golf Club meeting with Councillors, Council Offices, Parish Councillors and petitioners, and that there has been plenty of time and opportunity to produce a plan to resolve these concerns.

For convenience we have grouped our objections into five broad areas of concern.

1. New risks to bus passengers as a result of this proposal, especially to older or visually-impaired people.
2. Unintended negative consequences.
3. Unaddressed community concerns that informed the previous decision to replace the bus shelters.
4. The need to provide fit for purpose facilities for bus passengers.
5. Conditions for an effective consultation.

1) New risks to bus passengers as a result of this proposal.

As the cycle lane can no longer go behind the bus shelter in line with current best practice guidance, Newcastle City Council have proposed that instead the area in front of the existing shelters will become shared space. We presume this will require additional bollards / signage either side to advise of the change to and from separate lanes.

a) We would like to draw the Council’s attention to the RNIB’s campaign against shared space and the similar campaign from Guide Dogs for the Blind. While these mostly relate to people sharing with motor traffic, and while the risks of shared walking/cycling paths are much less, we feel the same broad principles should apply here. Our measurements suggest it should be possible to maintain clearly identified separate space at this location with or without the retention of the current bus shelters and that the proposal should not proceed until this is confirmed.

Stone / Concrete shelter with measurements

b) The location of the shelter on the far side of the pavement means that people wishing to use the shelter will have to cross the cycle lane when the bus is arriving in order to attract the bus driver’s attention. This means their attention will be focused on the bus rather than on approaching cyclists, which could put them and the person/people approaching at risk as a result.

c) Further, as the sides of the stone shelter are not transparent, and with no plans to improve visibility, anyone approaching on a cycle may not see or be aware that someone is waiting for a bus and might step out unannounced.

In contrast, the original proposal for the cycle lane to go behind the bus shelter would have allowed bus passengers to cross the cycle lane on arrival and then not have to worry about people cycling when boarding a bus. Likewise, the design of the replacement bus shelters would have ensured maximum visibility between people cycling and those getting on or off a bus.

2) Unintended negative consequences.

We have identified a number of likely unintended consequences that we also feel need addressing as part of this proposal. Items (a) to (c) arise as a result of the issues stated above.

a) If the proposed shared space makes people feel less safe then it is likely to discourage people from using local public transport, making it more likely they will drive instead, adding to congestion and reducing air quality for all road users.

b) It would also reduce the usability of the cycle lane for people doing longer journeys who wish to cycle more quickly. This would encourage people to continue to cycle in the bus lane, potentially delaying buses and reducing the safety benefits that should be achieved through implementation of this scheme.

c) Designed-in conflicts such as those highlighted above will, in the long term, risk eroding community support for similar schemes in future, which are critical to achieve widely-supported policy objectives relating to air quality, public health and children’s wellbeing. We understand that funding is not always available for the highest quality designs, however in this case the Council has already outlined an approach that is within budget and avoids these issues.

d) We understand that the Council had intended to make revenue from advertising on these bus shelters and we presume this future revenue stream, though perhaps not of great consequence, will now be lost. We do feel, however, that the Council should be clear in the licensing terms as to what advertising is allowed to avoid the possibility of large and unsightly advertising, to set out how any advertising revenue is to be split and/or how (or if) the Council is to be compensated for forgoing this revenue.

Existing bus stop by Melton Park

3) Unaddressed community concerns that informed the previous decision to replace the bus shelters.

In December 2015, the City Council published a consultation to provide for safe cycling and improved crossing facilities on the Great North Road. That consultation, which was widely publicised, included the proposal to remove the stone/concrete bus shelters and no comments were received at that time regarding the shelters.

At the January 2018 Golf Club meeting with petitioners and Parish Councillors seeking to overturn the results of the previous consultation, the Council highlighted a number of concerns that residents had raised with them and with Nexus. If the stone shelters are to be retained these concerns need to be addressed and a funded mitigation plan put in place. The concerns listed by the Council were:

a) Issues of personal security where passengers could not be seen inside, or be seen by bus drivers.

b) That people do not feel the stone shelters give a good image of modern public transport – e.g. challenges with installing seating and real-time information.

c) Specific requests to replace the shelters, particularly amongst women (reasons not given).

d) Difficult to clean if subject to graffiti.

e) Discussions in local on-line forums have also highlighted that people feel the existing shelters are dark, have no seat and are a bit smelly.

Slide on Bus Shelters presented by the City Council in January

4) The need to provide fit for purpose facilities for bus passengers.

At the same meeting the Council outlined its intention to improve bus shelters across the city. Any plan to transfer maintenance of bus shelters should ensure all of the following Council-proposed objectives will be fully met at these locations for the benefit of current and future bus passengers.

a) Visibility (between people waiting and approaching buses/cycles)

b) Security (stated to be a particular issue for women)

c) Seating – ‘perch’ (benefiting older passengers and those with mobility difficulties)

d) Real time / data ready.

e) In addition, we have identified that roof and window heights are not suitable for taller people, and that people using a wheelchair are unlikely to be able to see out of the window to see approaching buses.

What you would see if sat on a seat at the back of the shelter

5) Conditions for an effective consultation.

Whilst the original Broadway to Brunton lane consultations were widely publicised to local residents and contained detailed information about the proposals, as well as opportunities to speak directly to Council staff about those proposals, the consultation for this transfer gives practically no information and only minimal opportunity for the community to express an opinion.

Given a main subject of the petition that lead to this proposal was the need for effective consultation, we are surprised that the petitioners themselves have not called for a wider consultation, have not sought to publicise the opportunity to comment and have not provided available information to residents about the pros and cons of this proposal to allow residents to come to an informed decision.

We do understand that it will never be possible to have a perfect consultation, but as a minimum this consultation should set out the main consequences of retaining the bus shelters and state how the issues identified will be addressed to ensure a good quality outcome for residents and bus passengers.

Given the retention of the current bus shelters would result in a change to the street design from that previously advertised, we feel the consultation should also be treated in a similar manner to a traffic consultation and include engagement with all affected user groups including those representing the visually impaired or people with disabilities more generally. In this regard, the Council has made a commitment via its Street Charter to “take additional steps to make sure blind and partially sighted people are fully consulted on all shared space proposals”.

Extract from the Newcastle City Council Street Charter

The consultation is also lacking detail on what is intended by granting permission to maintain the shelter, for example:

• Is any particular level of maintenance committed to?
• Will there be a facility for reporting urgent issues and how will the Parish Council ensure a quick response?
• Is the Parish Council committing to ensure compliance with relevant legislation e.g. if the shelter is found not to be compliant with the Equalities act because it is not easily usable by people with wheelchairs and/or people with mobility issues that mean they cannot stand for long periods, is it the Council or the Parish Council that will undertake and fund changes to put this right?
• In the unlikely event of a major structural failure (which could be due to a failure in the maintenance regime) would the City Council or the Parish Council be liable for the cost of rebuilding the shelter and/or for injury or death caused by the collapse of the shelter? We note the Council briefed petitioners (including Parish Councillors) at the January meeting that similar structures in the UK had collapsed following collisions, leading to the death of people waiting inside.
• If the Parish Council is liable but does not have assets to cover these liabilities, how would the Council recover the uncovered costs?

Notice displayed in the Great North Road bus shelters

Next Steps

Our objective in sending these comments is to help improve the scheme to ensure it is the best quality possible for residents and bus users, which I am sure is an objective shared by both the City and Parish Councils; and to ensure effective community engagement in the process.

We understand that as the formal deadline for comments has passed the Council and/or the Parish Council could ask that these concerns are disregarded, however we do not see why it would be in anyone’s interest to do so. As stated above, pretty much all of these concerns have been raised previously so there should be no excuse for not already having plans to address these.

For reference, SPACE for Gosforth’s previous blogs on the Broadway to Brunton scheme can be found at this link https://www.spaceforgosforth.com/tag/broadway/ We will publish this letter as a further blog in the near future.

Yours faithfully,

On behalf of SPACE for Gosforth
www.spaceforgosforth.com

The post GNR Bus Shelters appeared first on SPACE for Gosforth.

A packed Trinity Church at the SPACE for Gosforth Blue House Meeting

In our look back at 2015, the year SPACE for Gosforth was formed, we wrote that this was only the beginning and that in 2016 we had a whole year to make a difference.  What we could not have anticipated at that time was the immense difference that 2016 would bring to our community.

Something old … Gosforth High Street

A better Gosforth High Street was the reason SPACE for Gosforth was founded in 2015, and we continued to focus on the High Street 2016.

A High Street filled with hidden dangers!

We began the year by publishing an account of a walk by one of our members on Gosforth High Street to raise awareness of the challenges faced by those with a visual impairment.  Our member was blindfolded and accompanied by a volunteer guide from Guide Dogs for the Blind, and his walk revealed a High Street filled with hidden – and not so hidden – dangers.  This would be an issue for any community given that the UK has an ageing population, but it is a particular issue for Gosforth as three Gosforth schools house Newcastle City Council’s Visual Impairment Additionally Resourced Centres.

Gosforth High Street

Newcastle City Council also agreed to work with SPACE for Gosforth and local traders to improve plans for Gosforth High Street.  These improvements will take place in stages – the first stage to be agreed was improvements for pedestrians, which has recently been the subject of a consultation.

South Gosforth AQMA

Gosforth High Street is part of the South Gosforth Air Quality Management Area.  The South Gosforth AQMA was declared due to high levels of nitrogen dioxide, and is one of two AQMAs in Newcastle upon Tyne (the other is the City Centre AQMA, which has even higher levels of nitrogen dioxide).  SPACE for Gosforth began investigating this issue in 2015 and we continued to highlight the issue of air pollution during 2016 as well as other costs to the community of the negative impacts of traffic.  By contrast, research confirms that increasing cycling has a positive effect on local business.

Air pollution monitor on Gosforth High St.

During the autumn, we were able to track daily readings from the Gosforth High Street air pollution monitor thanks to Newcastle University’s Urban Observatory project.

We were very worried to note the increase in levels of nitrogen dioxide on Gosforth High Street before Christmas  – and a similar increase in the City Centre Air Quality Management Area.

This is an issue SPACE for Gosforth intends to continue investigating due to the risk to residents’ health from air pollution.

Responses to Brunton to Broadway Consultation

Further north from Gosforth High Street on the Great North Road, we also looked at the responses to the proposed new cycle route between Broadway and Brunton Lane, a proposal that received strong support during the consultation.  The graph on the left shows the reasons why respondents liked the proposals.

Despite this, there have been concerns raised relating to the introduction of a toucan crossing.  We examined the issues relating to this crossing, in particular the need for a fully accessible crossing at this point.

Something new … adding to the local debate

SPACE for Gosforth was founded to add new information to the local debate and to take action on the challenges facing Gosforth, and we did this in a number of ways in 2016.

One important local issue we wished to examine at was the issue of drivers speeding on many of Gosforth’s residential streets, so we obtained and analysed traffic counts from Newcastle City Council to provide residents with accurate data about this issue.

When  Gosforth’s speed cameras made the local news, we analysed speed camera data to show that there has been a reduction of accidents since these cameras have been installed.

East Gosforth crash map

We returned to the issue of speeding at the time of the East Gosforth Ward Survey and Priority Event, when we also examined air pollution levels and road traffic casualties in East Gosforth Ward to provide residents with information on this issues .

Protected cycle lane on the Great North Road

Another issue we examined was children’s experience of cycling in our community.  We began by looking at safe cycling routes for children when we applied the research of Dr Rachel Aldred of Westminster University to our local cycling routes.  We found that while Gosforth does have examples of routes that are safe for children to cycle, these do not link together to form a coherent network and many streets are unsuitable for children.

We were also able to give an insight into how children see their school run in March, when we were privileged to be given permission by Archibald First School to publish a letter written by some of their pupils describing the near misses they have experienced on their way to school and requesting that parents drive safely around their school.

In April several local schools took part in The Big Pedal, a challenge to encourage children to cycle safely to school.  We reported on the results at the end of the first week and at the end of the Big Pedal, when three Gosforth headteachers all commented on how much their pupils enjoyed travelling by bike.

A close pass at the Regent Centre

We also looked at the Safe Overtaking petition, a parliamentary petition for a safe overtaking distance, and published a YouTube video clip showing a close pass near a Gosforth primary school.

The petition closed with 23,834 signatures, however the Government responded that it does not currently have any plans to change the legislation.  This is concerning as many of our members have shared their experience of suffering close passes when cycling in our city.

Electric bike in the park

Also in April we organised a taster session of Electric Parks in Gosforth Central Park.  Despite torrential rain, this session proved popular and one resident even arrived before the session began as he was so keen to try the bikes.  “Just brilliant” was the verdict of our members who collected the bikes from the Cycle Hub!

SPACE for Gosforth would like to see more events like this in Gosforth and we were pleased to see Go Smarter to Work organising an event in December at Trinity Church.  We also created the Bike Bingo Card for Bike Week.

John Dobson Street

2016 also saw the opening of Newcastle’s flagship cycle route on John Dobson Street, and we were impressed to find that the improvements have humanised a street that was previously inhospitable for both pedestrians and cycling.

Newcastle / Amsterdam

During the media debate following the opening of the John Dobson Street route Newcastle was often compared with Amsterdam, so we looked at what the two cities have in common.  We found that while both have iconic bridges, lively nightlife and great architecture, there is much we can learn from Amsterdam as it has higher numbers of cyclists, higher driver satisfaction and a much higher GDP.

Something borrowed … working with others

Crash Map for Station Road

In January SPACE for Gosforth members met East Gosforth Councillor Henry Gallagher on Station Road to investigate residents’ concerns about proposals for parking, which were felt to be a possible danger to cyclists.  The plans were later withdrawn and other plans included as part of the Haddricks’ Mills proposals (more on these proposals below).

We ended January by holding a talk with a guest speaker, Professor Mark Tewdwr-Jones of Newcastle University, about the City Futures project, which looked at what Newcastle might look like in 2065.

Monitor on the High Street

Following our air pollution monitoring on Gosforth High Street in 2015, we held a joint meeting in April with the Tyne and Wear Public Transport Users Group on air pollution with guest speakers Professor Margaret Bell and Dr Anil Namdeo from Newcastle University to explain this threat to our health.

The Netherlands is an inspiration for Almere Consulting

Finally in November, we held a meeting with Tom Bailey of Almere Consulting as our guest speaker to introduce his Garden City Guide to Active Travel.  Tom created his Guide after realising there was a gap in design standards for new large scale developments – and with so many new estates planned for Newcastle and its neighbouring communities, this was a gap that urgently needed filling.

Something Blue … Blue House Roundabout, Jesmond Dene Road and Haddricks Mill

The Blue House roundabout

In April we looked at the North-East Combined Authority’s survey on the future of transport in our region.  NECA’s vision of the future for Gosforth became clear in July when plans for “improvements” to the Blue House roundabout, Jesmond Dene Road and Haddricks’ Mill roundabouts were published.

The proposals for Blue House

All three proposals caused outrage throughout the Gosforth Community and beyond, particularly Blue House, which would have had a devastating effect on Newcastle’s iconic Town Moor.

The iconic Town Moor cows

SPACE for Gosforth objected to these proposals on these grounds and due to the risk to public health,  and because the proposals would not work.  We wrote an open letter to the NE Local Enterprise Partnership, who were contributing funding for the proposals and later received this reply.

Protest ribbons on the Little Moor

As SPACE for Gosforth believed that improvements for pedestrians and cyclists were needed at all three locations, we arranged a public meeting at Trinity Church to discuss alternatives.  We thought it was important that our community must not only say what it did not want, but also what it did want.

SPACE for Gosforth public meeting at Trinity Church

The result of the unprecedented community rejection of these plans led to a public meeting organised by Chi Onwurah, MP for Newcastle Central, and also attended by Catherine McKinnell MP (Newcastle North), Cllr Ged Bell and Graham Grant (Head of Transport Investment).

Chi Onwurah MP speaking at Trinity Church

Following this meeting SPACE for Gosforth was invited to join the Blue House Working Group. Information about the group can be found on the Blue House Working Group website, and we have also blogged about the first, second, fifth and sixth Blue House meetings.

Graphic Representation of the 2nd Blue House Meeting

The future of Blue House will continue to be decided during 2017, and we set out a series of measures of success for both policies and for people movement against which the final plans (when published) can be judged.

Poor planning at Gosforth Business Park

Shortly after the Blue House public meeting, plans were submitted to North Tyneside Council for a development on Gosforth Business Park which illustrated how planning can influence the type of journeys we make. We were very concerned to find that these plans made no reference to the nearby South Gosforth Air Quality Management Area and were likely to increase traffic in the AQMA.  With many other nearby developments planned, planning will remain an issue of concern in 2017.

And 2017?

Looking back on 2016, we are amazed at challenges our community has faced and are proud that we have added to local debate and have taken action to improve road safety and air quality in our community.

But these challenges will continue in 2017 – please join us to help make a difference!

The post SPACE’s 2016: some things old, new, borrowed and BLUE appeared first on SPACE for Gosforth.

Coming from the north by car, there are Park and Ride sites at:

• Metro Park and Ride at Kingston Park and Northumberland Park Metro stations.
• Great Park and Ride by bus from the Great Park just off the B1318 junction from the A1.

By rail it takes between 17 and 25 minutes from Morpeth or  17 minutes from Cramlington to Newcastle Central Station, though services are currently relatively infrequent.

For destinations south of Newcastle by car it is likely to be quicker to use the A1 or A19.

For more local journeys, if you can find a route you are comfortable with, it would take about 20 minutes to cycle from pretty much anywhere within the dashed green line to the City Centre.

Nexus have a  journey planner covering bus and metro travel. Alternatively Google Maps provides route options for walking, cycling and bus travel in addition to driving directions.

Live departure information for buses and the Metro is also available on the Nexus Live Map.

If you do find an alternative route that works better for you please do let us know. A study of Oyster Card data in London in showed a 2014 London Tube strike ‘brought economic benefits for workers‘ because it found that because of the disruption “it enabled a sizeable fraction of commuters to find better routes to work, and actually produced a net economic benefit due to the number of people who found more efficient ways to get to work.”

For people living in or near Garden Village, this map shows walking and cycling times to nearby Metro stations. The Metro footbridge immediately south of Salters Bridge has steep steps and no ramp so isn’t suitable for wheelchairs or pushchairs.

Bus routes 18, 18A, 54, X7/X8 & X63 will be affected by the northbound lane closure as Nexus have set out below. Detailed information on bus changes can be found on the Nexus Service Status webpage.

The post Killingworth Road Gas Works 27-31 March 2017 appeared first on SPACE for Gosforth.

In this post we want to look at the new street layout on John Dobson Street, and whether it has improved the experience of those who use this street.  The improvements are a flagship project for Newcastle upon Tyne City Council, with a new traffic-free cycle lane that links Newcastle Civic Centre at St. Mary’s Place and the Blue Carpet in front of the Laing Art Gallery and the Journey (Newcastle’s healthy travel centre) on New Bridge Street West.

1. Walking

Google Streetview – click to view

The new cycle lane has led to an improvement in the street for pedestrians.  This photograph from Google Streetview (right) shows the limited space pedestrians previously had on this street – space that was further reduced as it was also the waiting area for bus passengers, and was a shared use pedestrian and cycle way.

The new street layout provides much more space for pedestrians as they now have a wider pavement which they do not have to share with people queuing for a bus or with cyclists.  The bus stops have been relocated to the other side of the cycle lane, and again those waiting on that side have substantial space.

Pedestrian crossings are also clear.  There is a signalised crossing on the road and zebra style crossings on the cycle way, which clearly indicate where pedestrians have right of way.  Tactile pavements (the pink bumpy slabs behind the yellow sign) have been placed next to the crossings to signal to pedestrians with visual impairments where the crossings begin and end.

It will also be a much more pleasant environment for pedestrians – they are now much further from the noise and exhaust fumes produced by motorised traffic.  John Dobson Street has been further enhanced by planting trees, which have been linked to improving people’s physical and psychological health and can even cut air pollution.  This is important because John Dobson Street is within the City Centre Air Quality Management Area.

2. Cycling

The improvements for cycling are dramatic.  Among the things we like about the new cycle lane are:

1. It is separated from the road and from the pavement by a kerb – this is a type of infrastructure that recent research found was suitable for cycling with children and less confident cyclists.
2. It is sufficiently wide to allow two people to ride alongside each other and to allow overtaking.  This is particularly important because the lane will be used by both young children (whom parents will want to ride alongside) and by more confident cyclists (who will want to travel faster, particularly if they are on their way to work).
3. The street has clear zones for different types of travellers: pedestrians on the pavement, cyclists in the cycle lane and cars and other motor vehicles on the road.  This fits with the principle of Homogeneity, which is one of the 5 principles of the Dutch policy of Sustainable Safety (one of the policies that makes Dutch roads so safe).  Homogeneity aims to eliminate large differences between speed and mass of vehicles in the same space.  This happens in John Dobson Street now.  Motor vehicles, which are travelling the fastest and are the heaviest, are separated from cyclists and pedestrians (who are both much more vulnerable) as the vehicles are in the road.  Then cyclists (slightly heavier than pedestrians but able to travel faster) are separated from pedestrians in the cycle lane.
4. The zebra style crossings make it clear to cyclists that pedestrians will be crossing at these points.  They also make it clear to pedestrians (in combination with the different level of the lane) that cyclists have priority elsewhere in the cycle lane.
5. The cycle lane will reduce overall journey time for cyclists, which will make cycling a more attractive mode of travel.  Previously cyclists had two options. They could either have cycled in the road, which can be slow due to congestion at peak times and where they are vulnerable to traffic.  Or they could have used the shared space with pedestrians on the pavement – slow and unpleasant for both cyclists and pedestrians because there was insufficient space.  This is important because speed of travel is one of the reasons why cycling is so popular in the Netherlands, and with Newcastle’s air pollution problem, the city needs an increase in cycling to help clean up its air.

The cycle lane also means that Gosforth residents now have a near continuous cycle route from Broadway roundabout to the heart of the city. This route is not perfect, and there are a number of issues that may make it unsuitable for cyclists, particularly for less confident cyclists or for families  cycling with children.  These issues include:

• junction design: for example the vehicle left turn at ASDA (next to Hollywood Avenue in Gosforth) allows cars to cut across the cycle lane at speed
• lack of protection for cycle lanes (for example at the Regent Centre there is no kerb or other protection for the cycle lane and vehicles do encroach into the cycle lane – see section 8 in this link)
• some on road sections are still fairly busy streets (for example Christon Road and Moor Road – see section 3 in this link)
• there is also varying quality of park routes / shared space.  The route across the Little Moor (see section 4 in this link) functions well, however the section next to the Robinson Library is narrow for the number of people using it.

Despite these issues, Gosforth residents now have a reasonably fast cycle route into the city centre.  Google Maps estimates the journey by bicycle from Broadway roundabout to the city to be 19 minutes (see above map) – that is only 8 minutes slower than the fastest car route without congestion (see map below).  However at peak times, the cycle route is likely to be faster.  In addition, the calculation for the car does not include additional time required to park.

3. Buses, taxis and motorcycles

Access for buses, taxis and motorcycles is also improved, as only authorised vehicles are now permitted to use the northern stretch of John Dobson Street (between Ridley Place and St. Mary’s Place).  Authorised vehicles are public service buses, private hire and hackney taxis, emergency vehicles and motorcycles.  This will reduce overall traffic on this stretch and consequently reduce journey time for buses, taxis and motorcycles.

The changes may also make the rest of John Dobson Street less attractive as a through route for non-authorised vehicles, and this could further improve journey times for people using buses.

4. Cars

Cars may appear to lose from this scheme, as they will no longer be able to drive through the northern stretch of John Dobson Street.   However, this overlooks that only three years after John Dobson Street was originally opened in 1970, the A167(M) the Central Motorway was opened as a through route for traffic to bypass Newcastle city centre.  As the map shows, the A167(M) provides quick access to destinations on John Dobson Street from both the north and the south.  Access routes from the east and west of the city also link to the A167(M).

One concern that was raised about the closure is that it could impede access to the Royal Victoria Infirmary and the Civic Centre.  However, as the map on the left shows, the A167(M) Central Motorway is a quicker and more natural access route for the RVI via the Claremont Road junction.  This junction could also provide access to the Civic Centre.  There is also good bus and metro access to these destinations and emergency vehicles will not be affected by these changes.

Another factor which must be considered with regard to car usage of John Dobson Street is that Newcastle City Council is legally required to reduce levels of nitrogen dioxide within the city centre as the city centre is one of Newcastle upon Tyne’s two Air Quality Management Areas (the other is the South Gosforth AQMA).  It is particularly welcome that Newcastle City Council is taking steps to address this issue in light of the recent High Court Judgement against the UK government with regard to air pollution.

A Street Worthy of John Dobson?  

One of the great ironies of Newcastle upon Tyne city centre is that John Dobson, architect of Grey’s Monument, Grey Street and other buildings of Grainger Town, was commemorated with one of the ugliest streets in the city, a product of the same wave of redevelopment that destroyed some of his own buildings, including the Royal Arcade.

John Dobson’s work in Grainger Town continues to form vibrant streets that remain the heart of the city, and it feels fitting that this new redevelopment has humanised the undistinguished street that otherwise does not deserve to bear his name.

The post John Dobson Street: a Safe Pedestrian And Cycling Environment appeared first on SPACE for Gosforth.

One of the reasons stated for the size of the proposed Blue House roundabout  was extra traffic generated by new housing developments to the west and north of the city. Planning approval is currently being sought from North Tyneside Council for a  development of 238 new houses on Gosforth Business Park, just off the A189 approximately one mile north of Haddricks Mill. This development, and in particular decisions made relating to its layout and design, will directly influence the volume of traffic through Haddricks Mill and Blue House junctions.

What did we find when we looked at this proposal?

• Unrealistic traffic estimates
• No mention of the nearby Air Quality Management Area in the Transport Assessment for the planning application
• A cycle lane/footway used as a car park and a 40mph A Road with a narrow pavement both described as being part of a ‘good standard footway and cycle network’
• Street layouts that add unnecessary distance to walking and cycling journeys, and
• Prospective residents being advised to store cycles in their gardens.

Based on this assessment, our judgement is that this application should be rejected because of the likely severe impact on public heath resulting from extra vehicle traffic in the South Gosforth Air Quality Management Area.

We look at these issues below, and highlight some simple low-cost changes to ensure that walking and cycling are not only possible but are also attractive options, giving people a real choice about how they travel.

Please do note that there are other issues relating to this proposal, outside the remit of SPACE for Gosforth, that may separately cause this application to be rejected. For example, the Natural History Society of Northumbria has set out objections relating to the impact on Gosforth Park Nature Reserve. Further comments can be viewed on the North Tyneside Council planning website.

You can comment on this planning application here.

Traffic Estimates

The Transport Assessment submitted by Persimmon Homes sets out the number of additional journeys the developer estimates will be generated and how these will be made.

According to section 5.3 of this document, the development will generate 307 trips in the morning peak (8-9am) and 339 trips in the evening peak (4-5pm). These figures are calculated using the TRICS database, which is a national standard for estimating the number of journeys people will make.

This has been broken down by travel mode using the split of the nearby Longbenton estate, which has high public transport usage, being located near to Longbenton Metro station, and a high proportion of pedestrian journeys, no doubt as a result of its proximity to the Benton Park View government employment site and the Freeman Hospital. This would suggest that vehicle trips will be 49% of the total, however we feel this is unlikely to replicated at the proposal site which is, at its nearest, a 1.3 mile walk to Longbenton Metro.

Walking directions from Google Maps – click the map for directions

More realistically, with the proposal as it is, the number of vehicle journeys is likely to be closer to 64% (*the figure for the area immediately to the north). 64% of 307 is 196 vehicles in the morning peak.

If all this traffic were to drive south through Haddricks Mill, which is the most likely route, we estimate this would represent in the order of a *29% increase in traffic driving south along that route, which would be a very significant impact, especially given Haddricks Mill is part of an Air Quality Management Area.

While there is a regular bus service to the city centre within 500m of most of the new houses, this is no better than the service in the area immediately to the north. In addition, as a result of the proposed site layouts, the walk from the bus stop to the house locations is not overlooked so there is a potential safety issue for people who use it, and the walking routes themselves are also lengthened as a result of the proposed street designs.

Proposed Mitigations

The Objectives in the application’s “Design and Access Statement – Gosforth Business Park – 19 July 2016” include an objective ‘To maintain sustainability ideals and maximise opportunities for sustainable modes of transport.‘ This is in line with North Tyneside Council’s own policy to “...actively manage patterns of growth to make the fullest possible use of public transport, walking and cycling, and focus significant development in locations which are or can be made sustainable”.

Figure 4 in the Transport Assessment (reproduced below) gives the possible walking and cycling routes based on a 2km walk or a 5km cycle. These distances are actually understated compared to other applications we have seen, in particular for cycling where longer commutes are easily possible where appropriate safe routes exist. Creating a choice of travel options though is more than just distance. It is also important to consider whether the routes shown in Figure 4 are attractive options.

Blocked or Unviable Walking and Cycling Routes

Gosforth Park Way does have a marked off-road cycle path however currently this is unusable because of parked cars along that route (the cycle lane is where the cars on the left of the photograph below are parked). The right hand pavement as shown is also blocked by parked cars. This is also the walking route to the nearest bus stop to the application site.

Gosforth Park Way – Click for Google Streetview

Once off the site, the most direct route towards the City Centre (marked on the cycle map as an advisory route) is a busy 40mph A road with no continuous provision for cycling. It is unlikely that any residents would wish to use this route, and certainly not for escorting children to school.

Salters Lane – Click for Google Streetview

Further north, where Figure 4 shows a walking route, the A189 becomes a 50mph dual carriageway with no pavement.

Adding Distance to Walking and Cycling Journeys

Within the proposed site the Transport Assessment (section 4.13) suggests it will be ‘providing direct connections to origins and destination within the developable area and beyond which are permeable, safe and reflect desire lines of movement‘. This is important as the choices people make to walk and cycle are known to be sensitive to length of the journey.

Looking at the proposed layout however (see below), walking and cycling routes are constrained to be the same as vehicle access and anyone wishing e.g. to walk south to the nearest bus stop, will have to walk a considerable extra distance to exit the development before they even reach the potentially blocked footway on Gosforth Park Way (the road between cells 2 & 3). Nor are there any links to outside the site e.g. from Cell 3 to Salters’ Lane on the left of the picture, which would be a useful route for anyone wishing to access the cycle way there or to go to Gosforth Park.

Lack of Cycle Storage

The Design and Access Statement also says that ‘Secure external cycle and general storage provision will be enabled in properties provided with a garage. In other instances, private gardens are of sufficient size to ensure that adequate external storage can be accommodated.‘  I.e. a garage (also needed for a car) or the garden.

Persimmon Homes have also submitted a travel plan to “increase awareness of sustainable travel options and to encourage their use“, however this will not be able to make up for any short-comings of the scheme as a result of its current design and layout.

Potential Improvements

Many of these issues can be resolved with amendments to the design to prioritise  and encourage walking and cycling. These are our recommendations.

1. Parking issues on Gosforth Park Way need resolving and good quality footway and cycleways provided. Two-way cycle ways are generally required to be at least 3m wide and should take priority over side roads. If necessary these should be provided on land currently part of this application.
2. Walking and cycling routes from each of cells 1, 2 & 3 should be provided so that residents have easy and direct access onto Gosforth Park Way at both north and south ends of each cell.
3. Additional walking and cycling routes should be provided from cells 1 & 3 to Salters’ Lane and, if possible, from cell 2 to adjacent industrial sites.
4. All walking and cycling routes should be well-lit and the site layout should ensure that, so far as possible, people using these routes (including Gosforth Park Way) feel safe even if walking them alone and at night. This might require further changes to Gosforth Park Way itself.
5. Specific storage for bicycles should be provided in convenient locations at the front of the houses, for example in shared locked units such as the Lambeth Bikehangar (shown below).
6. The developer should provide secure cycle storage adjacent to the nearest bus stops and at Longbenton Metro for use of residents to provide a further combined cycle / public transport travel option.
7. The developer should pay for further improvements to Salters’ Lane to provide good quality continuous walking and cycling routes to link to the Killingworth Road footway / cycle lane proposed as part of the recent Haddricks Mill consultation. These should be built at the same time as or prior to the proposed development.
8. North Tyneside Council and the developer should select appropriate direct walking and cycling routes to link the application site to West Moor and to Killingworth and ensure these are upgraded to a standard where all ages and abilities would feel safe using it. (For standards see the SPACE for Gosforth post Lots of children want to cycle…)
9. The developer should consult with businesses on Gosforth Business Park and Balliol Business Park to agree further measures that would help reduce vehicle traffic to Gosforth Business Park to offset the increased traffic as a result of this development. This could include the introduction of paid parking along Gosforth Park Way as a way of creating a fund to pay for these further measures.

Comments must be made by 14 September 2016

You can view the planning application here, or search North Tyneside Council’s planning website using the reference 16/01304/FUL. Comments must be made by Wednesday 14 September 2016.

Notes on traffic estimates

Mode share for cars for North Tyneside 019C Lower Layer Super Output Area, the area including the proposed development and used in the Transport Assessment prepared by Milestone Transport Planning for Persimmon Homes is 49%. Current housing in that area is at the south end close to Longbenton Metro and the Benton Park View government site. The equivalent figure for North Tyneside 014D Lower Layer Super Output Area, the area immediately north of the development, is 64% of trips by car.

The 29% increase in traffic along Salters’ Lane is based on the average weekday total vehicles per day from the TADU website, which is 16,643. We have assumed that half of this, 8,321 vehicles, are travelling south over the day and that 8% of that total, 666 vehicles, travel south between 8 and 9am. 8% is derived from traffic profiles from a similar route. 196 extra vehicles vs 666 current vehicles represents an increase of 29%.

The post Poor Planning means Bigger Junctions? appeared first on SPACE for Gosforth.

At the SPACE for Gosforth public meeting in Trinity Church we outlined how the size of the Blue House roundabout was due to a predicted increase in vehicle traffic; and how an alternative that prioritises helping people get about on foot, by cycle and public transport could be a viable alternative that meets Newcastle City Council’s objectives and saves the Town Moor.

This post is our feedback to the Blue House to Haddricks Mill scheme. You can comment on these proposals up to Sunday 21 August on the Council’s Commonplace website.

Dear Mr Grant,

This is the feedback from SPACE for Gosforth on the Blue House to Haddricks Mill proposals. SPACE for Gosforth is a group to promote and campaign for a Safe Pedestrian and Cycling Environment for Gosforth.  We are residents of Gosforth, most of us with families and we walk, cycle, use public transport and drive.  We are not affiliated to any other campaign group or political party.  We want to see Gosforth as a destination for visitors rather than purely a transport corridor.  We want to see changes to Gosforth’s road infrastructure that prioritise people walking and cycling of all ages and abilities over vehicles.

Under normal circumstances SPACE for Gosforth would not comment as a group on these proposals, however due to the exceptional nature of the plans proposed and their negative impact upon the City of Newcastle, particularly with regard to public health, we felt that it was important to do so.

As a group we recognise and support the need for people to get about, and we are pleased that Newcastle City Council has objectives to reduce congestion, improve safety and to reduce air pollution and its impact on public health. We see that there are positives in the schemes proposed, especially the bus and cycle lanes on Killingworth Road and the new pedestrian crossing at the end of Osborne Road.

However, there are also a great number of negatives as well and our considered view is that under the current proposals, none of these three objectives are likely to be met; and that this scheme, as it stands, represents poor value for money.

We would like to propose amendments both to the schemes and the underlying assumptions made by Newcastle City Council.  We believe these would result not only in this scheme being value for money; but would also lead to a significant return on the Council’s investment.

Blue House – Vehicle capacity and loss of green space on the Town Moor

The most significant feature of the Blue House proposal is the size of the roundabout.  This we understand is as a result of the Council’s modelling assumptions relating to the level of demand for travel, what those journeys will be and how they will be made. We would like to challenge all three of these assumptions.

25 years of research shows that a junction designed with significant additional capacity will cause additional traffic due to induced demand, and this extra traffic will negate any time savings or improvements in air quality that may be forecast.

This additional traffic will be nothing to do with any increased economic activity or the new homes currently being built in Newcastle’s green-belt. While economic activity may lead to some additional journeys being taken, there is little evidence that increasing capacity for travel increases economic activity. It is more likely that more journeys (and therefore more cost) will be made at the same level of activity. This would represent a loss of productivity for the region.

People’s decisions as to where they live and travel to will be influenced by the additional capacity being provided. This scheme will therefore encourage more people to live outside Newcastle, potentially weakening local neighbourhoods, and to make longer journeys – undoing any benefit of time savings predicted for this junction. This contradicts Newcastle City Council’s own strategy for stronger, healthier neighbourhoods.

The assumption of how we travel is most important though. Walking, cycling and public transport are extremely space-efficient means of travel and with a different mix of transport modes, the same or greater numbers of people could travel through these junctions but in a fraction of the space required by the proposed roundabout, and at a fraction of the cost. We are glad to see so many of the comments on Commonplace support making improvements for these modes. Improving conditions for walking, cycling and public transport will also induce demand, but in a way that benefits the whole community.

Further, the desired mix for how we travel is part of Newcastle City Council’s own strategy and if such schemes do not support that mix of travel then it will not be possible for Newcastle City Council ever to achieve the strategic objectives it desires. At the same time we expect Newcastle City Council to work with developers on the new estates and business parks to ensure that people who will live or work there will have a good range of travel options in line with the Council’s strategy including walking, cycling and public transport.

Blue House – Issues with the design

1. As stated, the increased vehicle capacity will induce traffic. Based on transport research evidence, the likely result of this will be additional air pollution, road safety issues and congestion in surrounding areas. Any benefits to journey time are also likely to be short lived.  Air pollution is a significant concern at the Blue House Roundabout, as this junction is within the South Gosforth Air Quality Management Area.  Any increase in traffic at this junction is therefore inappropriate due to the increased risk to public health.
2. The Town Moor is part of Newcastle’s brand and part of what makes the city special. This is an inappropriate use of that space.
3. It is known that poorly designed pedestrian and cycling facilities are not used as they were intended. The routes proposed for people walking and cycling require multiple multi-stage crossings and as a result people will react by finding alternatives ways of crossing this junction. This may be to drive instead, or pedestrians may not wait for traffic to stop. Cyclists may ride through the junction rather than wait for the lights. All three reactions put people at greater risk and would negate the intended safety benefits.
4. There appear to be no changes that improve conditions for or prioritise buses travelling through this junction. For most of the day, when traffic is not at its peak, the additional distance to travel through the junction and multiple traffic lights will result in a slight slowing of journey times, which when multiplied across the day could become a significant issue for bus operators.

Blue House – Improvements

We would like to see a junction designed to fulfil the following objectives:

1. A design that encourages walking and cycling through safe, direct and comfortable routes separate from each other and both separate from vehicle traffic. The Dutch approach to roundabout design is worth considering in this regard in light of its good safety record and demonstrable success in creating routes that people actively choose to use. We consider that people may support the routing of these paths either through the trees, or on the other side of the trees from the junction, if this is done sensitively and only for as far as necessary due to junction design considerations – provided that this results in the vehicle junction being confined within the existing footprint.
2. Bus priority leading up to the junction to be included in the design to improve bus journey reliability.
3. The existing junction footprint to be used as a guide for the appropriate maximum capacity for this junction, as would be standard practice for any other urban junction.
4. As stated in the FAQ released by the Council, the best way to encourage cycling is through a network of good quality routes. The same is likely to be true of walking. The routes through this junction should therefore be linked to footpaths and cycleways that traverse the length of the Northern Access Corridor from Cowgate in the west to Killingworth Road and Benton Park Road in the North so that those that wish to use this route have a full set of choices for how they do so.
5. Traffic lights could be installed if desired on the roundabout, to be used as peak times to control the throughput of traffic from the dominant arms.

The additional capacity created in this way will ensure the maximum throughput of people possible in the space that is available.  The following graphic illustrates our suggested improvements.

Blue House – Conceptual Design

Jesmond Dene Road – Issues with the Design

1. Existing traffic issues in High West Jesmond (especially on Ilford Road and Moorfield) that relate to a high volume of through-traffic and a high proportion of that traffic travelling in excess of the speed limit are not addressed in the changes proposed for that area.
2. There are no safe cycling routes. In particular there is no safe connection between the Little Moor and Jesmond Dene.  This proposal will not fill this gap.
3. This proposal will result in the loss of the 33/33A bus linking Gosforth and Jesmond.
4. Poor linkage between Gosforth and Jesmond as a result of Jesmond Dene Road acting as a barrier is not addressed by this proposal, and an increase in vehicle traffic may exacerbate this problem.
5. This proposal has potential for additional through traffic to be generated on currently quiet Jesmond roads, particularly Highbury which is marked as cycle route.

Jesmond Dene Road – Improvements

We would like to see improvements for Jesmond Dene Road to be designed to fulfil the following objectives:

1. We would like Newcastle City Council to consider ways of reducing through traffic in High West Jesmond as an alternative to banning the right turn out of the end of Moorfield and the proposed one-way across the Moorfield Metro bridge. This approach, some options for which we included in our presentation on the SPACE for Gosforth website, must be agreed in consultation with the local community.  It would both reduce the interruptions to flow on Jesmond Dene Road and also resolve existing traffic issues in High West Jesmond.
2. Safe protected cycling routes to be provided along Jesmond Dene Road to link to Blue House roundabout and onwards to Haddricks Mill. Our measurements of this road suggest that there is sufficient space is available to do this and to maintain the existing traffic lanes and pavement. It may be possible to provide this as a bidirectional route on the south / east side of the road given there are only two main junctions and relatively few houses on that side.
3. This route should also support pedestrians and cyclists crossing from Moorfield to the part of Jesmond Dene Road that goes to the Jesmond House Hotel and to Crossway in Jesmond.
4. We would suggest that the right turn to Osborne road is maintained. With more people walking, cycling or using public transport the need to remove this should be reduced. At the very least we would like to see the right turn retained for the 33/33A bus route.
5. Appropriate measures will be required on Forsyth Road, Highbury and potentially other nearby routes to ensure they remain safe for walking and cycling in light of any changed traffic patterns.

Haddricks Mill Road

Although not included in the current proposals this forms part of the Northern Access Corridor route and we would like to suggest a number of improvements that we would like the Council to consider alongside our other feedback:

1. Walking and cycling routes, as stated above, should continue for the length of this road. This could mean reducing splay widths and narrowing junction entrances to make roads easier to cross on foot and to reduce the speed of turning traffic.
2. Parking that is currently on the pavement and impedes the footpath should be relocated to the road to ensure a clear path for pedestrians.
3. The current south-bound cycle route that is routed in a ‘dooring’ zone should be relocated to be separate from vehicle traffic.
4. The entrance to Castles Farm Road needs proper pedestrian facilities as there is currently no pavement and is unpleasant to use, especially in the dark.
5. Measures such as narrower road lanes should be taken to encourage slower vehicle speeds to (a) improve safety for people crossing; and (b) reduce starting and stopping traffic that increases pollution.

Haddricks Mill Junction – Issues

1. As at Blue House, the design of walking and cycling paths using multiple crossings and round-about routes will not be practical or attractive to pedestrians and cyclists and is likely to lead to unintended behaviour which will negate much of the safety benefit.
2. Shared space for pedestrians and cyclists is uncomfortable for both and could discourage people from walking or cycling.
3. Under the current design, vehicles can enter and exit the roundabout at high speeds which will mean any collisions could potentially be serious or worse.
4. The non-standard design with filter lanes is likely to confuse people who do not use this junction regularly – exactly the issue with the current layout that these proposals should be seeking to fix.
5. Improving access to the Coxlodge Waggonway (an important route for both cycling and walking in Heaton) is not included in these plans, even though it ends at Haddricks Mill, and the current entrances are awkward for cyclists, and for those using buggies and wheelchairs.

Haddricks Mill – Improvements

We would like to see a junction designed to fulfil the following objectives:

1. The roundabout should be designed to a more traditional layout, to make it easier to navigate by drivers who are unfamiliar with its layout.
2. To make the roundabout safer, entrances and exits to the roundabout should be narrower and more perpendicular to the roundabout.  These would result in drivers entering and leaving the roundabout at lower speeds.
3. Separate protected routes should be provided for both pedestrians and cyclists, to make traversing the roundabout safer and more pleasant for both. 
4. The walking and cycling routes round the junction should connect to the Coxlodge Wagonway as well as onwards up Killingworth Road and Benton Park Road to Benton Park View and St. Mary’s High School to encourage people travelling to these destinations to walk or cycle.
5. Haddricks Mill is an important transport junction for all modes of travel as it is one of the few crossings of the historic Ouseburn Valley.  Haddricks Mill also has value as a place as is next to a conservation area, includes some green space and has a number of old buildings adjacent to it. A design sympathetic with these characteristics, which reduces the loss of green space, would be beneficial.
6. We would suggest in light of the size of the junction that the encircling cycle route is two-way so that people cycling can, like those walking, always choose the shortest route.
7. Bus priority on the approach from Haddricks Mill Road would assist with bus journey reliability.

 The following graphic illustrates our suggested improvements.

Haddrick’s Mill – Conceptual Design

Station Road – Issues 

1. Station Road itself is a poor environment for people walking or cycling, and this is not addressed in these proposals.
2. The proposed location for new parking spaces would require some considerable widening of that area resulting in the loss of trees and part of the green to the north of Station Road.
3. By reversing the direction of one-way travel on the back alley there is a risk that vehicle traffic will use this new cut through to bypass queuing traffic on Station Road.
4. The quiet location of the proposed parking may lead to some people not using it for fear of crime.

Station Road – Improvements

We would like to see alterations to Station Road designed to fulfil the following objectives:

1. An alternative location for parking might be on the east side of Hunters Road next to the grassed area (see illustration below). This must be agreed in consultation with local residents. It would not provide as many spaces however traders could continue to use their existing parking in the back lane so fewer spaces would be required.  Restrictions limiting parking in the proposed area on Hunters Road to 1 or 2 hours during trading hours may be appropriate ensure that this parking is used as intended to support the Station Road shops.
2. As Station Road is a poor environment for walking and cycling we would like to suggest a shared walking / cycling path going from Station Road north of the row of shops along the edge of the green dipping into the back lane by Hunters Road. This would not attract faster cyclists who would prefer the quicker more direct route however it would improve the experience for the majority who do not enjoy cycling in traffic.
3. Moving the current pedestrian crossing slightly to the west would assist with people walking or cycling who wish to access this path from Audley Road.
4. We would also suggest the inclusion of cycle parking next to the shops on the north side of the road.

 The following graphic illustrates our suggested improvements.

Station Road – Conceptual Design

Killingworth Road / Salters’ Lane Metro Bridge

We support the changes being made here to include a bus lanes and cycle path as well as to widen the pavement.

In summary, while we note that there are many negatives to the currently proposed schemes, with the improvements listed above alternative schemes may be presented that meet Newcastle City Councils’s objectives of increasing people-moving capacity, improving safety for all users and reducing air pollution by encouraging more people to walk, cycle or use the bus.  Our alternative scheme would also avoid the need for banning movements, in particular for the number 33/33A bus route, and the loss of green space on the iconic Town Moor.

Yours faithfully,

SPACE for Gosforth.

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