Newcastle City Council has made very positive noises about transitioning away from the private car, providing alternatives including a cycle network for decades. The primary transport policies remain the Local Plan and the LTP.
Here’s what our council has promised …
NewcastleGateshead’s economic and spatial strategy 1PLAN 2010
Link to document [pdf]
- delivering the best public transport and giving streets back to people, we will break the link between economic growth and miles travelled by private car (Page 7)
- N:G will become a more compact, accessible and sustainable place, much less dependent on the car. (Page 11)
- We want to make N:G a better place to walk and cycle. We will transform some of the motorway scale major roads that fragment the urban core, turning them into attractive streets and boulevards (Page 11)
- … this needs to be matched by investment to make public transport services more comprehensive, integrated and attractive. (Page 11)
- …encouraging new forms of planning and low-carbon life-styles (Page 60 )
- In 2009 Newcastle topped the Forum for the Future’s Sustainable Cities Index. This is a great accolade but we know there is still a long way to go
- Page 61 is a treasure trove (the page even sports a bicycle symbol), excerpts:
– … planning cities where people can meet their daily needs without a car
– pedestrian friendly urban core, promoting walking and cycling and reducing road miles travelled
– A key challenge will be to reduce the volume of traffic passing through the urban core
– Over-engineered roads and fast-moving traffic blight parts of our urban core and fragment the urban fabric
– We should cut non-essential journeys to a minimum, reserving road space for access, and downgrading major roads to city streets
- negative impact of road traffic (Page 75)
- We will need a twin-track approach: practical action now to achieve a better balance between car and other forms of transport, and a programme of research and development leading to a complete mobility study (Page 75)
- Our three to five year priorities will be cars and buses will have access to the urban core via a ring of arrival points, with priority given to walking, cycling and energy efficient shuttle buses in the heart of the urban core. (Page 75)
- The long-term aim is to reduce the amount of traffic passing through the urban core. In the short-term, the strategy will be to civilise these routes, changing urban motorways into city streets (Page 78)
- … ring of car parks, this will reduce the amount of traffic and enable progressive removal of parked cars from Grey Street and elsewhere (Page 78)
- East Pilgrim Street: severely damaged by road schemes and developments dating 1960s and 70s
- Swan House roundabout: is a hostile, traffic-dominated environment
- so the onus is on local and regional partners to be disciplined and to focus only on projects which will make a real difference to the sustainable competitiveness of N:G. (Page 96)
Newcastle City Council Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan: Part 1- Operations and Services 2008
Link to document [external pdf]
- Climate change is the most pressing environmental, social and economic challenge facing our planet. The consequences of climate change are global, long-term and, in some cases, already irreversible.
- Newcastle City Council has placed this at the top of our agenda.
- Given that many journeys are less than 5 miles Local Authorities have a major role in helping to reduce CO2 emissions from transport at a local level by encouraging more walking, cycling and use of public transport. For example if you walked or cycled 3 miles instead of taking the car you would save 1 kg of CO2.
City Centre Area Action Plan 2006 – key issues and development of options
Link to document [external pdf]
- Newcastle City Centre will be a cosmopolitan European City Centre of unique character which : Is highly accessible with high quality public transport which encourages use of sustainable modes and reduces congestion. A high quality environment which ensures safety and convenience for pedestrians and cyclists. (Page 5)
- The city contains a relatively moderate amount of pedestrianisation and open spaces. Many pedestrian routes through the centre are heavily focused and reliant on shopping streets and covered walkway / malls. There is a lack of well defined networks of routes for cycling. (Page 8)
- key objectives to link up different areas of the city for walking and cycling. (Page 9)
- creating a connected cycle network : there are a number of fragmented and disconnected cycle network in the within the City Centre. (Page 11)
The Newcastle Climate Change Declaration 2010
Link to document [external pdf]
- Newcastle City Council resolves to reaffirm its commitment to tackle climate change and work with residents and partners to reduce the city’s carbon emissions by 34% (from 1990 levels) by 2020.
- As a Council we will provide leadership by facilitating new ways of working which avoid the need to bring a private car to work and encourage more of our staff to cycle and walk to work
- With partners, we will also aim to promote lower carbon methods of travel, aiming for a 4% reduction in fuel use through walking, cycling and better use of public transport by 2020