Dear Emgee,

We don’t expect people will have read all our blogs but it might help to have a quick look before making statements as you have.

For example, in our blog “Enabling Businesses to Open Safely on Gosforth High Street” 4/7/2020 we said:
“Banning the left turn from Salters Road towards Regent Centre creates a risk of more traffic on Henry Street and Regent Road North, which are often busy with children travelling to or from school. This will need to be monitored along with other local roads and further action taken if necessary.”
https://www.spaceforgosforth.com/enabling-businesses-to-open-safely-on-gosforth-high-street/

Our experience day to day is that traffic on local streets away from main roads has increased but is no worse than it was before Covid. So it is an issue that needs to be addressed but hasn’t been caused by the changes that are the subject of this blog.

If there are particular streets you are worried about please say but also bear in mind that, for roads west of the High Street, the A1 roadworks may be causing higher levels of traffic than normal.

PS. If anyone is able to help out the Friends of Gosforth Central Park please do. Their Facebook page is here, and we think they are amazing!
https://www.facebook.com/fogcp

Hi Stewart,

I think you know we would support most, if not all, effective measures for reducing air pollution. We listed what those would be in this previous blog.
https://www.spaceforgosforth.com/air-quality-what-works/

We hope more action can be taken to reduce pollution in Gosforth. From readings on Gosforth High Street since the wands were installed, air pollution is no worse than before and we think is actually a little better.

If your main concern is air pollution then encouraging more vehicles by adding parking or increasing road capacity would be counter-productive. These changes haven’t affected parking though and there is just as much now as there was before.

We hope this temporary layout will lead to a better arrangement on the High Street that will both support local businesses and enable more people to travel to the High Street without adding to the existing long-term pollution issues.