Press – Page 2 – Newcastle Cycling Campaign

‘A real shame’ – cyclists react to Mobike’s Newcastle exit and demand action from council

25th May 2019 NewCycling Press

Evening Chronicle – 1 May 2019 The cycle hire firm confirmed on Tuesday that it is pulling all of its bikes out of Newcastle and Gateshead from the beginning of May. ampaigners say that a Mobike-style project will not work in Newcastle until more action is taken to make the city’s roads safer for cyclists. … Newcastle Cycling Campaign leaders say that efforts to get more people cycling in the city through bike-sharing schemes are doomed to fail unless there are big changes to boost cycle routes. Sally Watson, of the Newcastle Cycling Campaign, said: “This is a real shame, but it[…]

Fury as £500k projects to make Jesmond roads safer for children and cyclists put on hold

3rd February 2019 NewCycling Press

Evening Chronicle – 31 January 2019 SPACE for Jesmond has hit out after two schemes disappeared from Newcastle City Council’s ‘Streets for People’ programme NewCycling Chair, Sally Watson, said: “One of these schemes was designed to make the street outside West Jesmond Primary School safer for children travelling to school following the removal of the two crossing patrols. “The other scheme saw improvements to Osborne Road between Haldane Bridge and Holly Avenue. These two schemes are in areas highlighted as the most dangerous and unpleasant in the initial neighbourhood wide consultation.” https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/fury-500k-projects-make-jesmond-15754668

Council comes under fire for scrapping plans to boost cycling in Newcastle

12th January 2019 NewCycling Press

Evening Chronicle – 10 January 2019 Newcastle Cycling Campaign members say they are ‘disappointed’ after the plans were scrapped. Sally Watson said: “”The most recent of these is Barras Bridge, where cycling has been quietly removed from plans. We recently wrote to Coun Arlene Ainsley, cabinet member for transport and air quality, to express our concerns. We are still awaiting a response to this letter.” https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/council-comes-under-fire-scrapping-15652798

‘Near misses: The fundamental issue is not drivers, but road design’ says NewCycling

19th August 2017 NewCycling Press

Evening Chronicle (19 August 2017) – The Co-chair of NewCycling, Katja Leyendecker explains that near misses and ‘close shaves’ experienced by cyclists on a daily basis are not all down to drivers’ bad behaviour, it’s the road design and the built environment that is to blame. http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/heart-mouth-head-cam-footage-13495061

‘We should be more like Amsterdam’: Newcastle Cycle Campaign call for more cycle lanes

23rd November 2016 NewCycling Press

Evening Chronicle (23 November 2016) – The campaigning group has called for more cycle lanes after one was introduced on John Dobson Street. On video Katja gives the campaign’s position on the project. http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/we-should-more-like-amsterdam-12221587

Road safety week – let’s stop the blame game

5th November 2016 NewCycling News, Press

Newcastle City Council says it wants more people to cycle and travel more actively. And rightly so! Newcastle has an obesity crisis putting a crushing burden on health/wellbeing services. General inequalities are widening in the city too. Newcastle is becoming more divided. The construction of an inclusive transport system can level the playing field a great deal. So road safety should really not be allowed to drive people off the road. It should be about making the transport system inclusive and safe. Yet, many road and traffic schemes do not comply. Schemes branded cycling schemes repeatedly turn out to be[…]

Blue House roundabout: What stage is the revamp at and when will we see new designs?

24th October 2016 Peter Press

Evening Chronicle (23 October 2016) – http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/blue-house-roundabout-what-stage-12059759

Newcastle council: can you deliver what you have promised – a better future city?

27th September 2016 NewCycling News, Press

Newcastle council has agreed to go back to the drawing board with the Blue House roundabout, and is hopefully rethinking the full corridor in the process. In the light of this, we would like to explore how the council might use the evident public support for doing things differently, getting away from outdated methods of transport planning, and show true leadership to deliver change. Having carefully studied the council’s policies, there is certainly ample scope for this change to happen. Here we pose some questions to the council to help them direct their efforts towards meeting policy mandates. We would[…]

Newcastle cycling campaigner says infrastructure is key

27th September 2016 Peter Press

Campaign for Better Transport (26 September 2016) – http://www.bettertransport.org.uk/newcastle-cycling-campaigner-says-infrastructure-key

After Blue House bungle, Patron Christian Wolmar writes to Newcastle leader Nick Forbes

23rd September 2016 NewCycling Press

Following the Blue House and Northern Access Corridor debacle Newcycling’s campaign patron the acclaimed transport journalist and writer Christian Wolmar sends on open letter to Leader of Newcastle City Council Cllr Nick Forbes: to inspire confidence at the council for the necessary transport transition ahead. Our patron explains and outlines what it feels and looks like to build worldclass cycleways looking at recent developments in London. Letter see newcycling website END