Newcastle Cycling Campaign

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June 2023 Newsletter

Newsletter

Summer Meet Up In July Sally Watson, former Cycle Campaign chair, will be give a presentation on the best of this year’s Cycle County Active County conference, which is taking place in Oxfordshire in early July. The annual conference (previously known as Cycle City when held in Newcastle in 2015) is supported by the Department for Transport as its annual active travel summit and billed as Europe’s largest annual gathering of cycling and walking professionals. Sally will be sharing some of the highlights of this year’s conference and talking about the latest thinking from Active Travel England and other agencies[…]

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May 2023 Newsletter

Newsletter

New Social Rides In Newcastle A new social ride has been launched for anybody who would like a very relaxed ride with other people. Happening on the 2nd Friday of each month the, the ride will follow quiet streets and cycle lanes at a pace manageable by everybody, and nobody will be left behind. The next ride will be happening on Friday 12th May, will start at the Civic Centre , take in the recently created Safer Heaton scheme, the long awaited and recently completed extension to Heaton Road’s protected cycle lane and the new installed Safer Jesmond area before[…]

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Gosforth High Street bollards to be removed but replacement plan branded ‘extremely dangerous’

Press

Chronicle – 7 March 2023 (Daniel Holland) Council bosses plan to install a new bus lane along the high street to replace the bollards, which were installed to create social distancing space in 2020 Gosforth High Street’s much-criticised bollards are set to be removed this month – but plans to replace them with a new bus lane have been labelled “extremely dangerous”. Newcastle City Council has confirmed that it will at last get rid of the bollards that have provoked widespread frustration since they were installed in 2020. The changes were made as part of emergency measures during the Covid[…]

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New cycleway to be built outside Newcastle’s RVI next year in major upgrade to ‘dangerous’ route

Press

Chronicle – 28 September 2022 (Daniel Holland) Work to install a permanent, segregated cycleway on Queen Victoria Road is due to begin in the new year A permanent redesign of the road outside Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) is finally set to get under way next year. City transport chiefs have announced the latest on plans for a major transformation of Queen Victoria Road. Temporary cycle lanes have been in place on the busy city centre street since the pandemic summer of 2020, brought in as a means of supporting social distancing by giving road space over to walkers and[…]

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Heaton junctions to be shut off to cars as council reveals latest crackdown on rat runs

Press

Chronicle – 27 September 2022 (Daniel Holland) City transport bosses have confirmed that ‘low traffic neighbourhood’ plans to stop drivers cutting through a series of residential streets will come into force next month Multiple road junctions in Heaton will be shut off to cars in latest efforts to crack down on rat running. City transport bosses have confirmed that ‘low traffic neighbourhood’ plans to stop drivers cutting through a series of residential streets will come into force next month, almost a year after they were first set out. The changes, due to be made on October 24, will mean that[…]

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Cyclists’ fury as Gosforth High Street bollard removal plans branded ‘massive backwards step’

Press

Chronicle – 23 September 2022 (Daniel Holland) Campaigners have claimed the plans “won’t help reduce pollution” or bring in more shoppers Long-awaited plans to redesign Gosforth High Street have been branded a “massive backwards step” by furious cycling campaigners. Newcastle City Council announced on Thursday that it plans to remove the much-criticised bollards that have lined the high street for two years and install wider pavements, promising a more “people-friendly” area with new seating and greenery. But the proposals were met with an immediate backlash over a lack of any dedicated space for people on bikes. While campaigners had hoped[…]

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Newcastle’s active travel schemes – progress and funding – update September 2022

News, Politics

Last year the government published Gear Change: One Year On, featuring Newcastle’s own Queen Victoria Road. It stated that ‘plans are underway to make the temporary changes permanent, following positive public feedback’. We are still waiting to find out when the work will begin here. Further Active Travel funding was announced this year, which makes Newcastle City Council one of the highest recipients of active travel funding in England (outside London), showing the level of ambition our Councillors have for our city. Active Travel England has now been set up to oversee the delivery of the Active Travel Fund and[…]

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Consultation response: Concerns about new Grey Street plan only showing one-way cycling

Consultation replies

Newcastle City Council are consulting on a permanent scheme for Grey Street, but unlike the current temporary scheme, there is no protected northbound cycleway in their plan and northbound cycling will not be permitted. By not providing two way cycling on the street, we feel this proposal is significantly flawed and undermines all the other very positive changes such as widened pavements and reduced traffic. We have asked for clarification on this plan and have been promised a meeting with officers to discuss the changes. We hope that city leaders will ensure that the scheme outlined in the funding bid,[…]

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ECF Letter to governments at COP26

Uncategorized

More than 300 organisations including Newcastle Cycling Campaign have signed a letter requesting world leaders to commit to boosting cycling levels to reduce carbon emissions and reach global climate goals quickly. The letter can be found here. It calls for: “Promoting cycling in all its forms, including cycling tourism, sports cycling, bike sharing, riding to work or school and for exercising Recognising cycling as a climate solution, establishing a clear link between how an increase in bicycle trips and a decrease in private car trips reduce CO₂ emissions Creating and financing national cycling strategies and collecting data on cycling to[…]

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City Centre Improvements – Our Response

Uncategorized

Newcastle City Council have been running a consultation on numerous changes to the city centre, including the removal of buses and other through traffic from Blackett Street. Details of plans can be viewed online at https://www.newcastle.gov.uk/our-city/transport-improvements/city-centre-improvements the consultation closes soon on Friday 15th October. If you want to provide your views please do so. We have written to the council praising their ambition, while also raising concerns and questions that exist at this stage of the schemes development. Here is our response: Regarding GH/P44/1237 Blackett Street Area and Associated Consultation Documents We congratulate the Council on pushing ahead with further[…]

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