Newcastle City Council launched their Streets for People programme in 2016 as part of Cycle City Ambition Fund Round 2 (CCAF2). The aim was to make safer, cleaner and more attractive neighbourhoods in Heaton, Jesmond and Fenham & Arthur’s Hill through delivering walking and cycling schemes.
We will update this page when we have further news on these schemes so please check back here for news on progress.
The aim of Streets for People was also to build on the work started under Cycle City Ambition Fund Round 1 (CCAF1), which aimed to create strategic cycle routes radiating from the city centre, cycling facilities in some retail areas (such as Acorn Road in Jesmond) and safer streets outside some schools (the schemes for Ravenswood and West Jesmond primary schools were not implemented). You can read the most recent Government report on the Cycle City Ambition Fund programme here.
Community engagement in the Streets for People areas was used to draw up neighbourhood plans for each area and a short list of schemes. These have not been made public yet so we recently wrote to the Council for an update. This is the response we received with a list of schemes completed to date:
The Coronavirus pandemic has had an impact on how we need to use space within the city, both in terms providing space for social distancing and with a requirement to prioritise walking and cycling journeys with public transport capacity being reduced. With some level of coronavirus restrictions expected to be in place for a while longer, schemes such as the Streets for People Neighbourhood Plans are still relevant and on the table and form part of a Creating Cleaner, Greener and Safer Neighbourhoods project that was detailed in the recent edition of City Life, and help ensure that the Streets for People proposals come together to form the basis of walking and cycling routes in the three areas.
update from Newcastle City Council officer, received 22nd March 2021
Heaton & Ouseburn Streets for People
Budget £1 million
Schemes delivered:
Closure of Tintern Crescent completed November 2020 at a cost of £65,000. See our write up here.
Changed priority and associated traffic management works at Stannington Avenue / Stannington Grove / Heaton Hall Road completed February 2021 at a cost of £4,000
Outstanding:
Heaton Road Cycle Track extension – currently awaiting a decision to move to delivery with an estimated budget of £900,000.
UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2022 – part of the Heaton Road cycle scheme is currently being constructed and will hopefully be completed by December this year. We are still awaiting an announcement on the second part of this scheme which has been designed but not formally consulted on.
Neighbourhood Plan package rolled forward for consideration as part of Cleaner, Greener Safer Neighbourhoods schemes for trial implementation and consultation later in 2021.
UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2022 – still awaiting announcement on the proposed low traffic neighbourhood in Heaton
Jesmond Streets for People
Budget £1 million
Schemes delivered:
Removal of pavement bollards at Brentwood Avenue completed October 2019 at a cost of £2,000.
New signalised junction and cycling facilities at North Jesmond Avenue / Osborne Road completed March 2021 at a cost of £537,000.
Trial closure of Haldane Terrace Bridge as part of the ‘Bridges’ schemes.
UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2022 – Haldane Bridge now made permanent – thank you Newcastle City Council!
Outstanding:
All previously identified schemes remain options subject to prioritisation of the Streets for People funding, and for consideration as part of Cleaner, Greener Safer Neighbourhoods schemes for trial implementation and consultation later in 2021.
UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2022 – low traffic neighbourhood plans for Jesmond announced but no details confirmed
Arthur’s Hill & Fenham Streets for People
Budget £1 million
Neighbourhood Plan package has been rolled forward into the Cleaner, Greener Safer Neighbourhoods schemes for trial implementation and consultation later in 2021.
UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2022 – low traffic neighbourhood measures implemented in Fenham and some back lane modal filters implemented in Arthur’s Hill
Our thoughts
After the election, we would like the Council to publish their neighbourhood plans and set a timetable for final consultation and implementation of the schemes which are being progressed. This programme has been running for almost five years now with little to show for it, other than a useful filter in Heaton and an excellent but short cycleway and pedestrian/cycle crossing at the north end of Osborne Road. However, we have been very encouraged by the progress the Council has made with Emergency Active Travel schemes over the past year and hope that they will build on this with their outstanding Streets for People schemes.
UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2022 – Council plans still being announced in a piecemeal fashion – would be helpful to have a project plan and timetable for implementation to make this process more transparent and therefore accountable
Low traffic neighbourhoods have been discussed in relation to all three areas and we think that these would be a very postive step, alongside developing further cycleway schemes on Heaton Road and Osborne Road. We were extremely pleased to see that a school street has finally been annouced for Ravenswood Primary School, over seven years after the school first took part in the unsuccessful DIY Streets programme as part of CCAF1. Unfortunately, there are still no plans for a school street at West Jesmond Primary School, where two crossing patrols were removed 2014 in advance of proposed street changes (consulted on but not implemented) as part of DIY Streets. In Fenham & Arthur’s Hill, where no schemes have been implemented to date, we hope to see a rapid roll out of schemes as soon as possible.
UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2022 – fantastic to see low traffic neighbourhood schemes being proposed for these wards and excellent that some progress is finally being made in Fenham. Sadly Ravenswood Primary and West Jesmond Primary are still waiting for their school streets – now 9 years after funding was received to make their streets safer for children travelling to school through the Cycle City Transition Fund. Excellent news that Hotspur Primary School now has a school street – thank you Newcastle City Council!