Politics – Newcastle Cycling Campaign

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

19th September 2022 NewCycling 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[…]

2021 Council Elections – Newcastle City Council

14th April 2021 NewCycling Politics

Council elections take place on Thursday 6th May this year. You can find out who is up for election in your ward here. We have written to the transport leads for the four main parties, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Greens and Conservatives, to ask for their views on active travel. You can see their responses below. These are the questions we put to the parties: 1. How do you propose to built a cycling network (a combination of cycleways on main roads and filtered neighbourhoods where through traffic is removed) which would achieve mode shift and meet climate change commitments in[…]

Streets for People – updated September 2022

13th April 2021 NewCycling News, Politics

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[…]

Our 2021 New Year message to city leaders

22nd March 2021 NewCycling Politics

In January we wrote to the Leader of the Council and Cabinet Members for Transport & Air Quality and Climage Change & Communities. We commended them on their work to develop better walking and cycling infrastructure in the city in response to the pandemic and called for a new collaborative approach to working with walking and cycling advocacy groups. You can read the full letter here: Dear Cllr Forbes, Cllr Ainsley and Cllr Penny-Evans A belated Happy New Year from the Newcastle Cycling Campaign committee! 2020 was a very challenging year and we want to thank you for your efforts[…]

Local organisations back Low Traffic Neighbourhoods

27th September 2020 NewCycling News, Politics, Press

The Newcastle Cycling Campaign is one of 10 community groups in Newcastle and North Tyneside who, along with around 120 other organisations from across the UK, have signed a national statement calling on leaders of councils to take action to roll out more low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs). The statement says: “Now more than ever we need safe and spacious routes for walking and cycling to stop the air and noise pollution, and danger that traffic inflicts on our neighbourhoods… That’s why we welcome the leadership of councils who are working tirelessly to make sure changes to streetspace aren’t lost as[…]

A ‘gear change’ for walking and cycling: UK government announces ambitious plans

22nd August 2020 NewCycling News, Politics

On 28th July, the government published its plans to get Britain cycling Gear change: A bold vision for cycling and walking. Successive governments have made such announcements, but this time it looks like they really mean it. This article summarises the main points of the report. Accompanying the report is long-awaited updated guidance for designing cycling infrastructure (LTN 1/20). These two documents are ground-breaking in their ambition and a must-read for anyone who is interested in making better towns and cities. Here in Newcastle we have experienced first-hand the problems of short-term funding, lack of design guidance and difficulties in[…]

Action you can take! Campaign: Safe streets for social distancing

16th May 2020 NewCycling Politics

Newcastle City Council has announced ambitious plans to make more space for walking and cycling in response to Covid-19. We need your help to let them know how urgent and necessary this work is and where changes are needed in your neighbourhood to enable you to get around safely at this time. You can use one of the links below to generate an email to the Leader of the Council, Cllr Nick Forbes, and the Cabinet Member for Transport and Air Quality, Cllr Arlene Ainsley. If these don’t work, you can copy and paste the text below. Please consider adding[…]

Cycle Safari: Elswick and Benwell

14th November 2019 Infra Team Event, News, Politics

It is with great pleasure that this year we were able to start running our cycle safaris again. For those who don’t know what this means – no we are not going looking for lions! But we do hope to spot a few new zebras on our streets. The aim of the safaris is to check out potential routes where we would like to see protected cycle lanes in the future, and to review new infrastructure on some routes previously identified. On 6th July this year we had the pleasure of cycling along the new cycle route on Elswick Road[…]

Open letter to Cllr Arlene Ainsley, cabinet member for Transport and Air Quality

21st November 2018 NewCycling Politics

Newcastle’s new cabinet member for Transport and Air Quality, Cllr Arlene Ainsley, has now been in post for over a year. On 7th November 2018 she delivered a report on transport and air quality to the council. We have a number of questions to raise with the council in relation to this report and have written to Cllr Ainsley: Dear Cllr Ainsley We read with great interest your report on transport and air quality, which you delivered to full council on 7th November 2018. It is fantastic to see you acknowledging the important part cycling infrastructure can play in improving[…]

City4Kids – Newcastle’s future

16th September 2017 NewCycling News, Politics

Newcastle Council are worried about families and young people leaving our city and with good reason too (see quotes from the Local Plan at end of this article). To address this problem, Newcastle needs to put younger generations at the heart of future plans. We believe that politics in Newcastle must change. Our politicians must start thinking about young families, and start talking about what the city should offer to our young people. This is our City4Kids initiative. What is it like to grow up in Newcastle as a young person? What is it like to bring up children here?[…]