Six months ago, Newcastle City Council changed the road layout on five bridges so that they could only be used by people walking, in wheelchairs, or on bikes/scooters. The Council’s aim in doing so was to achieve safer residential streets by reducing motor vehicles speeding and to remove ‘through traffic’ from residential areas.

To close these bridges to motor vehicles the Council used an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO), with the first six months of the order being a public consultation period. This allowed the Council to implement the changes quickly as required by Government to ensure (in the Government’s words) “transport networks support recovery from the COVID-19 emergency and provide a lasting legacy of greener, safer transport”.

According to Commonplace, there have been approximately 10,000 comments made on the Council’s consultation website, which is a sizeable response and shows much greater public engagement than previous more traditional ‘in advance’ consultations.

This blog sets out SPACE for Gosforth’s response to the bridges’ consultation focused mainly on policy, evidence and best practice. In summary, there is strong evidential support for the changes and, in our view, no local evidence to suggest that benefits won’t be achieved.

Those benefits include:

• Generally creating more pleasant local places for people to live e.g. from less traffic noise
• Improving road safety, including for children on the school run
• Making it easier to walk and cycle, increasing people’s choices for how to travel
• Improving health from more walking and cycling
• Helping people on lower incomes because walking/cycling are cheaper than driving or the bus, including people travelling through the area & across Jesmond Dene to local employment sites.
• Reducing emissions to address the Climate Emergency with minimal cost or impact on lifestyles compared to e.g. road pricing, carbon taxes or forcing people to buy expensive new electric vehicles.
• Incredible value for money given how effective they are, how cheap they are to implement and the range of policy areas supported.

These support the Council’s longer term vision of a “safer, cleaner, greener Newcastle”.

Clearly many people still have concerns about the plans. We have looked at some of these in our previous blogs Enabling Safe Walking and Cycling via Local Bridges and Stoneyhurst Bridge – Review of Concerns.

There is good news that predictions of traffic chaos haven’t happened and traffic levels on surrounding roads remain lower than usual for the time of year, and there’s no reason to believe that traffic levels will increase substantially because they didn’t when Killingworth Road and Salters Bridge were both closed for road works.

Further information on the changes can be found on the Council’s Frequently Asked Questions web page.

SPACE for Gosforth response – Prohibition of driving of motor vehicles on local bridges

Dear sir/madam,

Re: Prohibition of driving of motor vehicles on local bridges

We are writing to SUPPORT the continued prohibition of driving of motor vehicles and associated changes made in the following orders, and to support these orders being made permanent.

We also wish to thank the Council for implementing the changes using an experimental order, to allow residents to experience the changes prior to them being implemented permanently. This has clearly led to much greater engagement and discussion of the pros and cons than would have been possible had the Council used a standard three-week online consultation. The consultation for the Broadway to Brunton Cycle lane, by comparison, only received 78 comments in total.

Our reasons for supporting the permanent prohibition of motor traffic on local bridges

1. Improved Safety

The Council has a legal obligation under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 to secure the expeditious, convenient and safe movement of pedestrian and cycling traffic.

These bridges and roads connecting to them frequently felt unsafe due to high volumes of traffic. Speeding counts, where we have them, also show that a majority of drivers using these routes do not drive within the 20mph speed limits set for these roads and nearby streets. As a result people choose either not to walk or cycle, or have to take long inconvenient detours to find an alternative way of reaching their destination. This is particularly true of Salters Bridge and Castle Farm Road, neither of which have adequate pavements.

The first of five principles in the world-leading Sustainable Safety approach is that roads should have a defined functionality e.g. for carrying traffic or alternatively for access to homes or destinations, and that street layouts should be designed accordingly. For minor residential streets this means restricting traffic only to vehicles being used to access those streets. It is also a pro-active approach, so changes should be made before crashes occur, rather than only reacting to past collisions and injuries.

https://sustainablesafety.nl

Council policy DM13 – Road Hierarchy confirms that all five bridges are on minor roads, and are for access only and not for the movement of vehicle traffic.

Council vehicle count and speed data confirms that there have been speeding issues on local streets connecting to these bridges as well as inappropriately high volumes of traffic.

For example, only 15% of drivers adhered to the speed limit on Ilford Road when measured in 2014.

It has also been established that injury rates per vehicle mile travelled are generally higher on minor roads. “For killed or seriously injured (KSI) casualties the rate per billion motor vehicle miles is 17% higher on minor roads (47 against 40 KSIs per billion vehicle miles), while for slight injuries it is 66% higher (188 against 123 slight injuries per billion vehicle miles).”

https://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/doi/10.1680/jmuen.16.00068

Evidence from the London Borough of Waltham Forest where low traffic neighbourhoods were implemented in 2015-2016 likewise found that “walking, cycling, and driving all became approximately 3-4 times safer per trip. There was no evidence that injury numbers changed on boundary roads.”

https://findingspress.org/article/18330-the-impact-of-introducing-low-traffic-neighbourhoods-on-road-traffic-injuries

In winter, ensuring vehicle traffic uses main roads that are on the Council’s gritting network, rather than cutting through untreated minor roads, also supports improved road safety. We understand residents’ concerns about Dene Crescent near Stoneyhurst Road bridge even though it is part of the Council’s gritting network. Hopefully the experience of the recent cold snap has reassured people that the Council’s gritting approach is effective. Certainly reports we have seen, and from our own regular walks in the area, suggest that Dene Crescent has been usable safely by motor vehicles.

The approach to prohibit vehicle traffic at these local bridges is therefore both consistent with best practice for road safety and with Council Policy that implements that best practice.

2. Better Health and Physical Activity

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance on Physical activity and the environment NG90 paragraph 1.2.5 states “Ensure pedestrians, cyclists and users of other modes of transport that involve physical activity are given the highest priority when developing or maintaining streets and roads. (This includes people with limited mobility.)” One way it recommends for achieving this is to “Restrict motor vehicle access (for example, by closing or narrowing roads to reduce capacity).”

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/NG90

The Council has confirmed there have been no issues with Emergency Services response times. This is consistent with what has been found elsewhere in the UK. A survey of Ambulance Trusts in areas where low-traffic neighbourhoods, popup cycle lanes, widened pavements and other walking and cycling schemes were introduced in response to the Covid-19 also found these have “have not hindered ambulance response times”.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/feb/13/covid-bike-and-walking-schemes-do-not-delay-ambulances-trusts-say

The approach to prohibit vehicle traffic at these local bridges is therefore consistent with NICE Guidance NG90 to increase physical activity and improve health.

3. Improved local air quality

A review of air quality measures by Public Health England showed that “driving restrictions produced the largest scale and most consistent reductions in air pollution levels, with the most robust studies.”

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/improving-outdoor-air-quality-and-health-review-of-interventions

The approach to prohibit vehicle traffic at these local bridges is therefore consistent with best practice guidance for improving air quality.

We also wish to note that opening additional routes, for example by ending the prohibition of vehicle traffic on these local bridges, is not recommended in any best practice guidance or evidence for what is effective to improve air quality. Based on measurements we have seen we don’t believe there is increased pollution on any local main roads as a result of these orders but even if there was, re-allowing vehicle traffic on these local bridges would not be an appropriate or effective response to that pollution.

4. Increasing Walking

Research on London “mini-Holland” schemes, which make extensive use of vehicle prohibitions, estimated an average increase in walking of 32 minutes per week compared to people living in comparable areas with no mini-Holland.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2018/jun/26/mini-holland-schemes-have-proved-their-worth-in-outer-london-boroughs

While it is not certain that the limited vehicle prohibitions at local bridges will have such a strong effect, they are certainly consistent with measures that have been shown to increase walking levels and are unlikely to have any negative effects.

5. Enabling more people to cycle

Pre-lockdown traffic levels and speeds on both Hollywood Avenue and Castle Farm Road were high enough, according to Government Local Traffic Note 1/20, to exclude most people who might otherwise be willing to cycle. Even if they were technically open for cycling, in practice they were not.

Pre-lockdown traffic levels and speeds on Ilford Road, and possibly also Stoneyhurst Road itself, were by the same measure sufficient to exclude some or most people who might otherwise be willing to cycle.

In practice, although these roads were technically ‘open’ for all traffic including people to cycle many would choose not to, or would be forced into long inconvenient diversions to find an alternative safer way of reaching their destination.

The National Travel Attitude Study Wave 3, 2020, reported that nationally “66% either agree strongly or agree somewhat with the notion that cycling on roads is too dangerous“, with the figure being 72% for 65-74 year olds and 75% for over 74 year olds. Reducing traffic levels on roads near the bridges is a cheap and easy way to make roads safer so more people, especially older people, feel comfortable to cycle.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-travel-attitudes-study-wave-3

The Tyneside Bike Life survey found that “25% of all Tyneside residents do not cycle but would like to start. Yet only 33% of residents feel that cycling safety is good.“ while 86% said that it was important to improve routes and facilities for safe cycling.

https://www.sustrans.org.uk/bike-life/bike-life-tyneside

In Local Traffic Note (LTN) 1/20 section 7.3.1 it says “Encouraging through traffic to use main roads can provide benefits for pedestrians and residents, particularly children and vulnerable adults, as well as enabling cycling. This can be achieved through implementing measures such as turning bans and one way streets, and by mode filtering”

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cycle-infrastructure-design-ltn-120

The Newcastle City Council motion on cycling from September 2019, supported by Councillors in Dene and South Gosforth and Parklands wards, stated:

• Cycle and walking routes should be abundantly available especially within a 3-mile radius of the city centre or major transport interchanges.
• Cycle routes should wherever possible not share space with any road that experiences more than light traffic so that people feel safe on their bikes.

https://democracy.newcastle.gov.uk/documents/s150085/Minutes%2004092019%20City%20Council.pdf

The approach to prohibit vehicle traffic at these local bridges is therefore consistent both with Government guidance on how to remove barriers to cycling and with Council policy to enable cycling for local journeys and with the specific City Council motion on cycling.

To achieve high levels of cycling for local journeys the Council will need to continue to invest to create a good quality network of safe routes that can be used by all ages and abilities, not just by current cyclists who are willing to cycle on roads with heavy traffic. These orders are a step towards that aim.

6. Safer, healthier school travel

On 2 October 2020 the Council released a news story urging families to use alternatives to the car on the school run, saying that “Nationally, around half of all journeys to school for primary children are made by car, creating pollution and high traffic levels around schools. The council would like to see more people walking or cycling to school as part of their plans to reduce traffic in local neighbourhoods, making it clear that neighbourhood streets should prioritise people, not vehicles.”

https://www.newcastle.gov.uk/citylife-news/people-urged-ditch-car-walk-school-week-5-9-october

Asking people nicely hasn’t worked though. If the Council wants parents to walk or cycle with their children to school, the Council needs to provide safe routes to allow them to do so.

Research from Newcastle City Council over 10 years ago in 2009 showed just how many school pupils, especially those of Primary School age, wanted to cycle to school compared to those that actually did.

See Big Pedal 2016 – Final results for Gosforth

According to the Department for Transport, school traffic makes up one in four vehicles on the road at peak times, adding significantly to pollution and congestion.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/21/clean-air-campaigners-call-for-school-run-ban-cut-pollution

We also know that walking or cycling to school helps children concentrate better while at school.

http://sciencenordic.com/children-who-walk-school-concentrate-better

Salters Bridge, Stoneyhurst Road Bridge and Castle Farm Road are all useful active travel routes connecting to South Gosforth First School, Gosforth East Middle School, Gosforth Academy and St Mary’s High School.

Commonplace comments for Stoneyhurst Road Bridge note that parents have started to “park and stride” rather than drive all the way to the school gate.

We have previously summarised research showing parents would not be happy cycling with children on busy residential streets, which would include the roads connecting to these bridges, but would be willing to cycle on streets with no through traffic.

See: Lots of children want to cycle to school, but hardly any do. How do we make space for child cycling in Gosforth?

The approach to prohibit vehicle traffic at these local bridges is therefore consistent with Council policy and with research demonstrating that filtered streets are suitable for children to cycle and that children will benefit from an active travel journey to school.

By giving children greater choice in how to travel and enabling more independent travel his will also support Newcastle in its aim to become a UNICEF ‘Child Friendly City’.

7. Improving access to employment and the local economy

The Department of Transport report “The Value of Cycling” states that “Cycling facilities can overcome difficulties in accessing employment opportunities” as well as reducing staff turnover and absenteeism, and boosting productivity.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/509587/value-of-cycling.pdf

Salters Bridge, Stoneyhurst Road Bridge and Castle Farm Road are all useful active travel routes to major employment centres including The Freeman Hospital, the Ministry, the Regent Centre and Gosforth High Street. The Council’s Medium-Term Plan for 2021-22 and 2022-23 includes investing in transport as a way of supporting increases in employment including:

• developing local cycling and walking plans.
• developing Newcastle Streets for People and 15-minute neighbourhoods.

https://www.newcastle.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Build%20Forward%20Better%20-%20our%20medium-term%20plan%20for%202021-22%20and%202022-23.pdf

It has also been estimated that cycling more often rather than driving is the equivalent of an 8% pay increase, money that could be spent in the local economy.

http://www.scotsman.com/news/transport/cycling-cost-saving-is-equivalent-of-an-8-per-cent-pay-rise-1-4430374

The approach to prohibit vehicle traffic at these local bridges is therefore consistent with Council Policy to support employment and the local economy.

8. Improving accessibility

Research by Sustrans found that ” An estimated 84% of disabled people living in the UK’s biggest cities never cycle for local journeys, yet one third (33%) say they would like to start cycling” and includes the recommendation “Reduce the volume and speed of vehicles on local streets, and create streets where people walking and cycling have priority, and cars are guests. ”

https://www.sustrans.org.uk/our-blog/news/2019/june/one-third-of-disabled-people-in-uk-cities-would-like-to-start-cycling/

In the Tyneside Bike Life survey 2019, 68% of disabled people thought cycle safety needed to be improved and that only 8% of people who are disabled cycled once a week compared to 17% of people who are not disabled.

https://www.sustrans.org.uk/bike-life/bike-life-tyneside

The approach to prohibit vehicle traffic at these local bridges can therefore support accessible and inclusive streets, along with further initiatives for example dropped kerbs, removing obstacles, widening pavements for wheelchair access, raising sections of roadway to make crossing easier, and ensuring on-street cycling facilities cater for the range of cycles used by disabled people.

Prior to these orders being put in place, the narrow pavement at Salters Bridge and complete lack of pavement on Castle Farm Road meant these routes were almost completely inaccessible for anyone with mobility issues unless using a vehicle, putting disabled people wanting to use these routes at a substantial disadvantage compared to people who are not disabled.

9. Reducing carbon emissions

Along with other local authorities in the NE of England, the Council has committed to make Newcastle upon Tyne carbon neutral by 2030. This was proposed in April 2019 by one of our local Dene and South Gosforth Councillors, the Council ward covering Stoneyhurst Road Bridge and Castle Farm Road, and was supported by Councillors in Dene and South Gosforth and Parklands wards.

https://democracy.newcastle.gov.uk/documents/s143777/April%20Council%20minutes.pdf

The Net Zero Newcastle – 2030 Action Plan says (p63) “Low Traffic Neighbourhoods implement the principle of ensuring vehicular traffic does not take precedence in residential areas. While people should be able to drive to residential neighbourhoods (if needed), they should not have the right to drive through. In line with the Carbon Management Hierarchy approach, through traffic should use the established road hierarchy”

https://www.newcastle.gov.uk/our-city/climate-change-newcastle/net-zero-newcastle-2030-action-plan

We know that when both Killingworth Road and Salters Bridge were closed to traffic due to recent road works there was an area-wide reduction in traffic levels and little or no increase on surrounding roads, strongly suggesting a reduction in the total number of vehicle miles driven.

The phenomenon of ‘Disappearing Traffic’ has been observed over and over around the world, including here in Newcastle when Killingworth Road was closed. It is well understood that reducing available capacity for vehicle travel reduces the number of vehicle journeys as people find other ways of doing what they need, which might include car sharing, using public transport, walking or cycling.

See: Roadworks, Air Quality and Disappearing Traffic

It has also been shown that vehicle miles driven are correlated to carbon emissions, but congestion levels are not. To reduce carbon emissions it therefore makes more sense to focus on reducing miles driven that aiming to reduce congestion.

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2017/07/06/urban-myth-busting-congestion-idling-and-carbon-emissions/

The approach to prohibit vehicle traffic at these local bridges is therefore consistent with Council Policy both to become carbon neutral and to use Low Traffic Neighbourhood principles to achieve that, as well as being supported by strong scientific evidence. The use of Experimental Orders has also allowed action to be taken quickly, which is particularly important in light of the Council’s net zero targets and the Climate Emergency.

10. Enabling east-west walking and cycling across the Ouseburn and Metro

We have previously highlighted the lack of routes to cross the Ouseburn / Jesmond Dene if walking or cycling. We produced the map below prior to these orders being published.

These orders go a long way to addressing these concerns by providing traffic free routes across the Ouseburn at Salters Bridge and Castle Farm Road and reducing traffic on connecting streets. While gradient and lighting could potentially still be issues, a reduction in traffic reduces makes these routes far more usable and reduces the risks due to both.

Haddricks Mill – Alternative Routes before orders were implemented

Much the same is true of crossing the Metro line, where the main alternatives to Stoneyhurst Road are Station Road and Jesmond Dene Road, both main roads with heavy traffic that would put off most people from cycling. Consideration could also be given to prohibiting vehicle traffic on Moorfield Road bridge as part of a wider low traffic neighbourhood covering High West Jesmond and Ilford Road Metro.

11. Reducing Crime

Research looking at the London Borough of Waltham Forest showed that “The introduction of a low traffic neighbourhood was associated with a 10% decrease in total street crime (95% confidence interval 7% to 13%), and this effect increased with a longer duration since implementation (18% decrease after 3 years).”

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348468915_The_Impact_of_Introducing_a_Low_Traffic_Neighbourhood_on_Street_Crime_in_Waltham_Forest_London

Northumbria Police has said “We have often called for environmental changes to address speeding and the closure of Salters Bridge will have a significant impact on speeding. It’s a far more effective way of addressing speed than relying on a camera van to be deployed.”

We have often called for environmental changes to address speeding and the closure of Salters Bridge will have a significant impact on speeding. It's a far more effective way of addressing speed than relying on a camera van to be deployed.

— Northumbria Police (@northumbriapol) August 13, 2020

This is likely to be true for other local bridges as well, including Ilford Road as a result of the order relating to Stoneyhurst Road bridge.

The approach to prohibit vehicle traffic at these local bridges is therefore consistent with objectives to reduce crime levels.

12. Impact on surrounding main roads

When the orders were first put in place some predicted ‘traffic chaos’ and ‘increased pollution’ as a result of these changes, but this has not happened and traffic is certainly no worse than it has been in previous years.

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/stoneyhurst-bridge-closure-traffic-gosforth-18681528

Traffic and Accident Data Unit (TADU) monitoring of vehicle traffic on Station Road, Gosforth High Street and Sandy Lane all show vehicle volumes did not exceed those in previous years even when lockdown was mostly lifted in September and October 2020. Haddricks Mill Road was slightly higher but that was more likely as a result of previous years being low due to Killingworth Road works rather than any additional traffic.

Traffic counts on Station Road shown in the graph below, show that by the time the orders were implemented on 13 August traffic levels had already returned to close to normal, and that implementing the orders made no substantial difference to the trend, which levelled off a few weeks later and stayed broadly flat after that.

Average daily traffic count 2017 – 2020, measured on Station Road, Gosforth

When Salters Road and Killingworth Road were both closed together pre-pandemic, traffic levels on Church Road were not significantly different, and Great North Road traffic levels were unchanged.

In September, when traffic was at its highest, air pollution at nearby sensors on Gosforth High Street were lower than normal.

Even if surrounding main roads were more congested and/or polluted than normal (which they weren’t) diverting traffic onto parallel minor roads would not be an appropriate response, and it is also very unlikely that it would be effective.

13. Value for Money

Interventions to support and enable more active travel are generally less costly than changes to roads to support or improve vehicle travel. Witness for example the hundreds of millions of pounds of public money being spent on the Western Bypass to add additional vehicle capacity, even though both local and national policy suggests that we should all drive fewer journeys in future.

The type of change proposed in these orders is almost certainly one of the cheapest, quickest and most effective way of enabling more people to walk and cycle more often and meet other policy objectives including addressing public health targets and the Climate Emergency.

They are also effective at improving road safety over a wide area, not just by the bridges.

• Castle Farm Road Bridge has reduced traffic and improved road safety right along the full length of Castle Farm Road.
• Salters Bridge has reduced traffic and improved road safety along the full length of Hollywood Avenue.
• Stoneyhurst Road Bridge has reduced traffic and improved road safety on Stoneyhurst Road and on Ilford Road / Rectory Drive.

Using experimental orders also means benefits can be achieved even more quickly at very low cost using temporary materials. This is especially important for issues such as the Climate Emergency that require urgent action to meet Council, national and global targets.

14. Public acceptance

Changes to street layouts almost always prove to be controversial initially, and longer-term tend to become more supported as people start to feel the benefits and realise that predictions of traffic chaos are unfounded, or at the very least have been substantially overstated.

This substantially explains the results from the local Councillor baseline survey, which was started a full month prior to the closures on 15 July 2020.

https://www.facebook.com/dsgward/posts/4094735390567874

We also note that the Commonplace website allows comments from any geographical location, so some of the comments are likely to be from people outside of the local area who use these bridges as short cuts as part of a longer journey to avoid busy main road routes.

When we surveyed Gosforth residents in 2018 we found 88% of residents supported safe walking and cycling routes to school and 85% supported reducing through traffic on residential streets.

This is consistent with more recent YouGov polling, which found that where people had opinions on LTNs, positive views were more than three times more prevalent than negative ones.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2020/oct/22/despite-a-loud-opposing-minority-low-traffic-neighbourhoods-are-increasingly-popular

There are many existing examples of local roads where motor vehicles are prohibited to prevent those roads being used for through traffic. All of these would have caused some vehicle journeys to be longer, and will have prevented main road traffic from using these streets as a short cut rather than sticking to main roads. None of these are controversial and no one is suggesting these should be opened for vehicle traffic to reduce congestion or pollution on adjacent main roads.

15. Enabling future changes to benefit active travel and health

Salters Bridge and Castle Farm Road Bridge orders are sufficient by themselves to improve safety adjacent minor roads including all of Hollywood Avenue.

In the area bounded by Gosforth High Street, Haddricks Mill Road and Church Road / Station Road, the prohibition of vehicle traffic on Stoneyhurst Road bridge improves safety but there are still nearby minor roads with high levels of vehicle traffic including Moor Road North and South (a signed cycle route) and The Grove.

In our blog “East Gosforth – Streets for People” we looked at one possible configuration of an area wide low traffic neighbourhood, which included a prohibition of vehicle traffic at Stoneyhurst Road bridge. This suggests that the Stoneyhurst Road Bridge order is consistent with and would enable a wider area low traffic neighbourhood in future and support the 15-minute neighbourhood concept.

East Gosforth – Streets for People

16. The Status Quo is not working

The status quo isn’t working. According to the Neighbourhoods and Public Health Report to Newcastle City Council on 3 February, 2020 Newcastle leads the “UK Healthy Cities Network”, but Newcastle is not currently a healthy city.

According to the 2019 report “for a typical Newcastle annual school reception intake of 3,500 children, 500 would be overweight, 460 obese and 120 severely obese.“ By Year 6 this increases to 540 overweight, 860 obese and 220 severely obese, together close to half of all children in Year 6.

https://democracy.newcastle.gov.uk/documents/s154182/Neighbourhoods%20Public%20Health%20Portfolio%20Report.pdf

According to Public Health England, less than half (45.7%) of children in Newcastle are considered to be physically active.

https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/physical-activity/data#page/1/gid/1938132899/pat/6/par/E12000001/ati/201/are/E08000021/iid/93014/age/298/sex/4/cid/4/page-options/ovw-do-1_cin-ci-4_map-ao-4_car-do-0

The British Heart Foundation Physical Activity Report 2017 found that 42% of adults in the North East were classed as being inactive, putting them at greater risk of heart and circulatory disease.

https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/publications/statistics/physical-inactivity-report-2017

In 2015, the BBC reported “A lack of exercise could be killing twice as many people as obesity in Europe, a 12-year study of more than 300,000 people suggests.”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-30812439

Currently relatively few people cycle (including children), and those that do are often forced into long inconvenient detours to avoid busy local streets.

The Tyneside Bike Life survey found that women, older and disabled people were then less likely to cycle in Tyneside but in all cases a majority wanted improvements in cycle safety. The report, to illustrate what could be possible, says “55% of all cycling trips in the Netherlands are made by women” where safe cycling facilities are widely available and “over 65 make 24% of their trips by cycle.”

https://www.sustrans.org.uk/bike-life/bike-life-tyneside

It is pretty clear that current cycling facilities in Newcastle, where most journeys involve having to use busy roads, mean women, older and disabled people are at a substantial disadvantage. These orders will help to address and remove that disadvantage.

As a result of high traffic levels people in Newcastle also suffer from congestion, pollution and every year people are killed and seriously injured on Newcastle’s roads through no fault of their own.

See: Traffic Crash Injury 2020 and Traffic Crash Injury 2019

Nationally, “motoring on minor roads doubled between 2009 and 2019.” This is not something we were ever consulted about, and if nothing is done will only get worse due to increasing availability of in-car Sat Nav systems.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/25/rat-running-residential-uk-streets-satnav-apps

Unless something is done now, these trends of increasing obesity, inactivity and ill health look set to continue while pollution and carbon emissions will not reduce. The Council has recognised that a “whole-systems approach to tackle rising obesity levels in the city” is needed.

https://www.newcastle.gov.uk/citylife-news/lifestyle/new-whole-systems-approach-tackling-obesity-newcastle

These orders support that whole-systems approach supporting a wide range of policy objectives covering health, economy, accessibility and the environment in a way that can be implemented quickly at a very low cost.

Summary and Next steps

In summary, we support the continued prohibition of driving of motor vehicles and associated changes made in the listed orders, and support these orders being made permanent.

Only a decision to make these orders permanent would align with Council policy. A decision to revoke these orders would make it harder for the Council to achieve its policy aims in future. This is also the perfect time to implement these changes while the roads are relatively quiet and people are willing to try out other ways of travelling around their local neighbourhoods.

“Doing nothing” or delaying action won’t encourage more people to walk or cycle, won’t improve health, won’t make it safer for children to travel to school and won’t reduce pollution or green house gas emissions.

We don’t believe there are any other alternative options currently available to the Council that would achieve the same level of benefits, for the same low cost across so many policy areas. Our assessment is that all of the substantive issues that have been raised, that we are aware of, can be adequately mitigated without re-opening these bridges to vehicle traffic.

The consultation has given residents the opportunity to share concerns. We hope the Council will assess these with due regard to the facts of the situation including any relevant evidence. For example, a comment by a member of the public opposing one of the bridge closures on our website asserts that, as a result of Stoneyhurst Road bridge being closed, people would be prevented from using their cars, which is clearly not true. The Council will also need to assess the impact of those false statements and other ‘trolling’ comments on Commonplace to determine whether these have skewed the overall consultation response.

For those concerns that are assessed to be factual and supported by relevant evidence, we hope the Council will give serious thought as to how those concerns could be addressed in a way that is consistent with Council policy and enables the prohibition of motor traffic at local bridges to be retained. For example:

• Using parking controls at the junction of Dene Crescent and Haddricks Mill Road to implement with Highway Code Rule 243, which says do not park opposite or within 10 metres (32 feet) of a junction.
• Options for enabling vehicles travelling in opposite directions on Balmoral Terrace, Windsor Terrace, Sandringham Road and Audley Road to pass, no doubt made harder because more people are working at home so there are fewer gaps as residents’ cars remain parked all day.
• Implementing further “point closures” to link up walking and cycling routes and prevent traffic being displaced onto other local residential streets that aren’t part of the Council’s primary and secondary distributor road network.
• Creating a safe cycling link between Dene Crescent and Castle Farm Road along Haddricks Mill Road.
• Continued monitoring of pollution and traffic levels on distributor roads, including Church Road / Station Road, and consideration of (i) further road-space reallocation and better crossings in line with statutory guidance and (ii) extending the proposed Clean Air Zone so it bounded by he Tyne, the A1, the Metro line and the A19 as we set out in our response to the Council’s Air Quality consultation and (iii) other traffic demand management measures to improve quality of life for residents living on local distributor roads.

We also hope the Council will also use the feedback to identify suitable topics for future communications such as:

• Communication of objectives such as reducing air pollution and carbon emissions or making roads safer so more people will walk and cycle, and what road layout changes are likely to be needed to achieve those objectives.
• Communication to address popular misconceptions e.g. that “point closures” will increase emissions (they don’t) or that a large proportion of traffic will displace to adjacent streets (it doesn’t).
• Communication to explain the need to make road layout changes to direct through traffic onto distributor roads, which are safer and better-designed for higher volumes of vehicle traffic than local residential streets – and that it is neither appropriate nor acceptable to use local residential streets as alternative main road routes.
• Case studies showing where the Council has made these changes and the benefits achieved.

A number of organisations have provided a useful summary of evidence relating to low traffic neighbourhoods, which we have referenced in Appendix A. Linked SPACE for Gosforth blogs are listed in Appendix B.

Yours Sincerely,

SPACE for Gosforth

www.spaceforgosforth.com

Appendix A Summaries of evidence relating to low traffic neighbourhoods

Sustrans
https://www.sustrans.org.uk/for-professionals/infrastructure/an-introductory-guide-to-low-traffic-neighbourhood-design/an-introductory-guide-to-low-traffic-neighbourhood-design-contents/design-guide/all/5-a-guide-to-the-evidence-around-low-traffic-neighbourhoods

London Cycling Campaign
https://www.lcc.org.uk/articles/ltns-work-new-research-shows-evidence-of-success-on-multiple-criteria

We are Possible.
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5d30896202a18c0001b49180/t/60003fabf3791928a02b707f/1610629036655/LTN+Briefing_FINAL.pdf

Transport Findings
https://findingspress.org/article/18330-the-impact-of-introducing-low-traffic-neighbourhoods-on-road-traffic-injuries

Journal of Transport and Health
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214140520301626

Rachel Aldred
http://rachelaldred.org/research/low-traffic-neighbourhoods-evidence/

Appendix B SPACE for Gosforth blogs

SPACE for Gosforth has produced three blogs relating to these orders.

1. We assessed a number of other concerns relating specifically to Stoneyhurst Road bridge in our blog “Stoneyhurst Bridge – Review of Concerns” published here: https://www.spaceforgosforth.com/stoneyhurst-bridge-review-of-concerns/
2. Our blog Enabling Safe Walking and Cycling via Local Bridges is published here: https://www.spaceforgosforth.com/enabling-safe-walking-and-cycling-via-local-bridges/
3. East Gosforth Streets for People – in which we propose a possible layout for a low traffic neighbourhood including the area around Stoneyhurst Road and show that closing Stoneyhurst Road Bridge to vehicle traffic would have minimal impact to most vehicle journey times. https://www.spaceforgosforth.com/east-gosforth-lcwip/

The post Safe Newcastle Bridges appeared first on SPACE for Gosforth.

Stoneyhurst Road, next to South Gosforth First School.

Newcastle City Council has announced plans, as part of its Covid-19 response, to close five local bridges to through traffic, so they can be used in safety by people who don’t currently feel comfortable walking or cycling because of the volume of traffic. 

Three of these bridges, Salters Bridge, Stoneyhurst Road and Castle Farm Road, are in Gosforth. All three currently experience high levels of traffic even though they are not part of the main road network, and all three have long-term road safety concerns despite calming measures having been put in place.

The three Gosforth bridges also have significant potential to enable people to walk or cycle local journeys travelling east to west or vice versa across the Ouseburn, where currently there are very few safe options. This includes routes to The Freeman Hospital, Benton Park View Government offices and St Mary’s High School.

Map showing where roads will be closed to through traffic and walking / cycling routes that have been made safer as a result. The main road network is shown shaded orange.

Change is required urgently, both under the terms of the emergency funding being provided by Government, but also because public transport capacity is significantly reduced due to social distancing and likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future. 

The aim is to give people who would have used the bus or Metro, including those that don’t have access to a car, a safe alternative option so public transport can still be used by those that need it most, including key workers, older people and people with disabilities.

This also helps mitigate the risk that more people will drive because they can’t use public transport, which would lead to increased traffic, delays and potentially more air pollution. It is especially important to enable more walking and cycling now to ensure air pollution does not go back up as there is compelling evidence that air pollution is linked to significant increases in Covid-19  infections, hospital admissions and deaths. Doctors are also advising people to take exercise to help reduce their chances of becoming severely ill from Covid-19.

Bus and Metro capacity are substantially reduced due to Covid-19.

This is important context as, for all the inevitable (and most likely incorrect) predictions of traffic chaos, the consequences of not making these changes would most likely be substantially worse, with the biggest negative impact being felt by those that rely on public transport and those that need to drive, whether for work, health or any other reason.

The rest of this blog takes the form of a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about these changes. As ever, where we present evidence we’ll link to original sources so if you want to take a deeper look you can. Please feel free to ask further questions, or suggest other topics for the FAQ in the comments section below.

1. How can I have a say?

Under normal circumstances there would be a consultation in advance of the changes being implemented, but this isn’t possible due to the urgent need to provide alternatives to public transport while also minimising air pollution.

Instead, the Council are using what is called an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order. This means that while the Council intends for the changes to be permanent, it will consult with residents before making a final decision. The Council will announce how to provide feedback once the changes have been made. 

This “try before you buy” approach is one we have long supported for a number of reasons.

1. Where there are known issues (in this case cuts in public transport capacity) it enables benefits to be achieved much more quickly. Issues could also include cutting air pollution, giving people a greater choice in how to travel, or making it safer for children to travel to school.
2. It is much easier for people to understand what is proposed if they can see it on the ground, rather than having to interpret from text on a website or engineering drawings. 
3. It shows what the effects will actually be, rather than just what people (or the Council) believe the effects could be, and allows any issues to be resolved prior to the scheme being made permanent. 
4. It increases engagement substantially compared to a newsletter or social media post, as people are much more likely to notice something that has actually changed.

The combination of these – clearer understanding, more engagement and better feedback – should ultimately lead to a better quality scheme for the benefit of local residents achieved much more quickly. 

Clearly people will be concerned about the impact and the Council should provide information to address those concerns. Studies have shown though that reallocating road space to enable people to walk or cycle, as the Government has instructed, is rarely as disruptive as people imagine but does create significant benefits for local communities.

The Council has previously consulted on Salters Bridge and more generally on how to improve walking and cycling routes across the City. All three locations were highlighted by local residents as places where they didn’t feel safe to walk or cycle. 

Traffic queue, and no pavements, at Castle Farm Road. Treacherous if walking or cycling, especially after dark.

2. Are there any other benefits?

There are many health, travel and economic benefits of making it easier for people to walk or cycle, not least that they help reduce the overall burden on the NHS at a time when capacity might still be needed for a second peak of Covid-19. 

While many of us in stable jobs won’t have felt the full impact, Covid-19 has already led to a significant contraction in the economy and potentially millions of jobs could be lost. Walking and cycling schemes give people a choice to travel more cheaply for local journeys (equivalent to a 8% pay increase compared to driving) and access employment opportunities that would otherwise be unavailable, and are a highly effective way of generating new jobs.

Removing through traffic from these bridges should also help reduce the Council’s maintenance liability at a time when finances are already stretched, as bridges, especially older bridges, will be more expensive to maintain than a normal section of road. 

For people living near these bridges or on connecting routes, our expectation is this change should lead to quieter, safer local streets. Stopping through traffic in residential areas is also a necessary first step for anyone who wants to see improvements on nearby main roads to make them safer for local residents.

Streets with less traffic have also been shown to be nicer, more neighbourly places to live, as explained in the video below.

3. How will emergency services be affected?

Emergency services have already been consulted and have confirmed they have no concerns with these proposals.

Making these changes will help avoid the gridlock that could be caused if public transport users have to drive instead through lack of alternative options. Avoiding that scenario will be essential to allow emergency services to continue to operate effectively.

In more normal times, when low traffic neighbourhoods were implemented in Waltham Forest in London prior to Covid-19, the evidence is that emergency response times did not substantially change.

Similar arrangements have already been implemented closer to home, including in Kenton, Heaton, Jesmond and in parts of Gosforth with the agreement of Emergency Services. All these streets are very quiet, liveable streets that would be busy with traffic were it not for a few bollards. The picture below shows some examples.

Existing “modal filters” in Newcastle, allowing walking and cycling but not allowing cars or other vehicles.

Enabling more people to walk or cycle also helps get people out of cars that potentially could hold up emergency services vehicles. 

Although it is unlikely to be necessary, roads that are closed to motor traffic can be designed to allow continued use by emergency vehicles e.g. through the use of gates, or moveable bollards.

4. What if I need to use a car?

Vehicle access is retained for all properties and if driving you will be able to access the main road network for longer journeys.

These changes are intended to help keep the roads clearer for people who need to drive by enabling more people to leave their car at home and walk or cycle instead.

While some journeys require a vehicle, many don’t. The Department for Transport says that 42% of all journeys are under 2 miles. Many of those could be walked or cycled. A further 25% are between 2 and 5 miles and could easily be cycled by most people if good quality routes are available. 

Good quality routes would also help disabled cyclists. Transport for London estimated that 15% of disabled people in London actively cycled for transport in 2014, and groups like Wheels for Wellbeing are actively campaigning for better cycling routes to enable disabled people to cycle.  SPACE for Gosforth has assessed local cycling routes for inclusive cycling.

5. How will this impact journey times?

Some journeys might be slightly quicker or slightly slower as a result. Quicker journeys might include:

• Anyone travelling by car north, south or west from Garden Village will benefit because queues to exit Hollywood Avenue will be shorter. 
• Even journeys travelling east by car could be quicker as in the words of one resident “If I wanted to reverse off my drive, it could take me 10-15 minutes to actually get out.“
• For the same reason anyone using the number 33 bus will benefit because it will no longer be held up in traffic on Hollywood Avenue.
• People walking or cycling may be able to take faster, more direct routes as a result of the changes rather than longer detours to avoid busy roads.
• Some new cycling journeys might now be possible where previously they were not. Journeys of up to about two miles are frequently quicker by bike, especially in rush hour and when there is cycle parking close to your destination.
• Parents might also save time if quieter streets mean their children can travel independently rather than needing to be escorted due to traffic danger.

Google Maps journey times from Sandringham Road to Blue House roundabout showing the quickest driving route via Haddricks Mill Road

Some people may prefer to walk or cycle for some journeys even if it takes slightly longer than driving, to save money compared to driving or to get a bit of fresh air and light exercise. This might save time compared to driving somewhere and then doing separate exercise.

You may also want to try dividing your cost of travel (bus tickets, or the cost of buying and running a car) by the amount you are paid per hour, to work out the time it takes to earn that amount, which arguably should be part of any calculation of how much time is needed to travel somewhere.

Travel time = journey time + time to earn money to pay for travel.

The concept of “Effective Speed” goes even further, taking into account a wide range of time costs including for example time to fill a car with petrol or to arrange maintenance.

6. Will this lead to more traffic and pollution at South Gosforth?

A frequent concern when residential streets are closed for through traffic is that the displaced traffic will make nearby main roads more congested. In practice, although there will inevitably be a period of adjustment, it is unlikely to make much difference. 

When both Killingworth Road and Salters Bridge were shut traffic levels did not change much on Station Road. Pollution measured by Haddricks Mill roundabout actually reduced quite considerably, and measurements in Longbenton also showed a slight decrease. 

The graph below, showing traffic volumes on Station Road has been updated since our blog Roadworks, Air Quality and Disappearing Traffic to add measurements from 2018. We understand there is a perception that traffic increased in 2017 after the start of the Killingworth Road roadworks. This may be because traffic levels were actually suppressed during 2016 due to roadworks at the Salters Road / Great North Road junction. 

When Killingworth Road closed for road works, many people predicted that a large proportion of the 17,000 vehicles using Killingworth Road would re-route to the Great North Road. In fact traffic volumes on the Great North Road measured by Gosforth Academy were actually lower during the period when Killingworth Road was closed than before.

That’s not to say that traffic levels won’t change. There’s a natural variation from year to year under normal circumstances, and lack of public transport capacity is likely to have an effect as is (in the opposite direction) more people working from home. 

7. Will this fix dangerous driving on Hollywood Avenue?

Shortly after Salters Bridge was re-opened to through traffic in October 2019, the Council installed measuring equipment that found that the number of vehicles using the bridge had risen to 4,500 every day of which approximately 2,600 (18,200 per week) were exceeding the speed limit – set at 20mph to ensure the safety of people walking and cycling. They also found that around 1,000 vehicles per week were breaking the three tonne weight limit on Salters Bridge.

This is substantially less than previous measurements. In 2008, the Council measured over 8,000 vehicles a day using Hollywood Avenue. Possibly the lower number in October reflected the fact that the bridge had only just been re-opened and traffic had not then built back up to previous volumes. 

While it’s not possible to completely eliminate dangerous driving, residents reported during the closure for Killingworth Road that it was a safer, quieter, nicer place to live. Certainly the change proposed will stop the street being used by the 1000 heavy vehicles per week that ignored the Salters Bridge weight limit.

A large truck crosses Salters Bridge.

For more on current Hollywood Avenue road safety issues, take a look at the @WeLoveSalters twitter feed. 

8. Will more people walk and cycle?

Already, due to less traffic in the Covid-19 lockdown, people are walking and cycling more.

“The number of employees joining the Cycle to Work scheme has more than doubled“, “year-on-year sales of new bikes between £400 and £1,000 more than doubled in April” 

“Britain’s biggest cycle retailer [Halford] said sales of some cycling equipment had risen 500% at the start of the lockdown, while bike sales this month [May 2020] have been double normal levels.“

Government surveys report that “for distances of 1–2 miles over 60% of journeys were made by motor vehicle” and (via the British Social Attitudes Survey) that 10% strongly agree that “Many of the journeys of less than 2 miles that I now make by car I could just as easily walk” and that 38% agree or strongly agree that “Many of the journeys of less than 2 miles that I now make by car I could just as easily cycle.” The same survey also shows that 62% agree or strongly agree that “It is too dangerous for me to cycle on the roads”.

A recent YouGov survey found that 65% of people said they wanted streets redesigned to protect pedestrians and cyclists and that 51% would cycle more if this happened, while 33% said they would drive less if street layouts were changed.

This all suggests that many people are willing to change how they travel, if only the roads can be made safer for them to do so. Research on similar changes made in London shows that this isn’t just talk and people actually will change how they travel. After one year, people living in parts of London boroughs where changes were made were, on average, walking and cycling for 41 minutes a week more than those living in comparable areas.

To achieve a similar result to those measured in London might require further changes, such as in the example proposals we have previously described for east Gosforth, but these are a step in the right direction.

Residents’ feedback about Stoneyhurst Road provided to Newcastle City Council as part of its Local Cycling and Walking infrastructure plan (LCWIP) consultation

9. Will there be an economic impact? 

Investing in walking and cycling is generally good for local economies. Our blog Can protected cycle lanes be good for business? looks at the evidence. 

If people save money in how they travel, that’s more money that can be spent instead in local shops and cafes.

10. What about the weather?

Newcastle is one of the driest cities in the UK, and has a relatively mild climate ideal for walking and cycling. In our blog It’s not Amsterdam – it doesn’t rain as much for a start! we compared Newcastle’s weather to famous cycling cities Amsterdam and Copenhagen which are respectively wetter and colder than Newcastle. 

The other two bridges are Haldane Bridge in Jesmond and Argyle Street Bridge in Ouseburn ward. You can read the Council’s news article here. 

The post Enabling Safe Walking and Cycling via Local Bridges appeared first on SPACE for Gosforth.