Newcastle Cycling Campaign

Cycling, walking and Covid-19: Our thoughts on what Newcastle can do now to help keep people safe

29th April 2020 NewCycling Uncategorised

The spread of Covid-19 and the lockdown have dramatically changed the way we live and move around our city. It’s looking increasingly likely that physical distancing is going to be with us for a while and we want to take a look at some ideas that Newcastle City Council could consider implementing now to make living in the city safer and easier. We think that these ideas could be implemented quickly and with limited resources – eg. with temporary measures such as those used in roadworks. The dramatic reduction in traffic in Newcastle appears to have resulted in considerably more people walking and cycling, whether[…]

COVID-19 – Message from the Chair

28th April 2020 Sally News, Politics

Apologies for the radio silence from Newcycling of late. Like everyone, it’s taken us some time to adjust to the new normal in these very worrying times. We hope that you and your families are well and that you are managing to keep up with family, friends, work, and perhaps even some cycling as part of your daily exercise. The future seems very uncertain at present and many of us will have serious health and financial concerns. While cycling might seem like something quite far down the list of priorities, we hope to contribute something to the debate about how[…]

Our response to Newcastle City Council’s climate change call for scientific evidence

28th January 2020 NewCycling Consultation replies, News

This is Newcastle Cycling Campaign’s response to the Newcastle City Council climate change call for scientific evidence 2020. Individual responses can be sent through through a survey here. Who we are The Newcastle Cycling Campaign is a constituted community group, with more than 1,600 members. It was established in October 2010 to address economic, social and spatial inequalities in the transport system by lobbying for high quality cycling infrastructure to enable people of all ages and abilities to cycle in an around the city. What we do Over the last ten years, we have documented our actions and demands using evidence,[…]

Retail Core Proposals – Our Response

28th January 2020 Infra Team Consultation replies

The council are currently seeking views on changes to the main retail area of the city centre, covering Blackett Street, Northumberland Street and the surrounding streets. The information on the scheme is available here: https://www.newcastle.gov.uk/our-city/transport-improvements/city-centre-improvements/transforming-our-city . If you also wish to provide personal feedback to the council, time is limited as the survey is only available until Friday 31st January. Our Response We are delighted to see that the Council is finally looking at making more improvements to the city centre. What has been shared for engagement has many positives, but for cycling there seem to be a number of[…]

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[…]

Calls to keep cyclists safe as Newcastle’s most dangerous roads for bikes are revealed

12th November 2019 NewCycling News, Press

Evening Chronicle – 3 November 2019 A cycling campaigner has called for action as the North East’s most dangerous roads for bikes are revealled. Newcastle’s New Bridge Street roundabout and parts of the Great North Road are hotspots for crashes. At Bluehouse Roundabout, on the Great North Road, police recorded five accidents involving a cyclist in which at least one person was hurt between January 2017 and December 2018. Sally Watson, a pro-cycling activist from the Newcastle Cycling Campaign, said many of the areas highlighted were well-known to be dangerous, and had been considered for improvements by Newcastle City Council. For the full[…]

Junctions in the West of the City – NewCycling Response

5th October 2019 Scott Consultation replies

This is the response for NewCycling on the multiple schemes presented through Commonplace as the “Junction improvements in the west of the city” at https://newcastlejunctions2019.commonplace.is. The proposals for the junctions in the West of the city leave us deeply concerned about the direction the council is heading with its highways. At a time when a climate emergency has be declared by the council and when the council is still failing to meet the legal levels for air quality in the city, is absolutely the wrong decision to plan to increasing motor traffic volumes anywhere in Newcastle. The council is condemning[…]

NewCycling Social Evening

8th September 2019 Claire Event, News

Come and join us at the Cycle Hub for our social evening. It’s an informal gathering to discuss what changes are required to reduce carbon emissions from transport. What is the current situation Newcastle, how big is the challenge and what urgent radical steps need to be taken now. First drink on us. All welcome!

Call for new commissioner to tackle ‘woefully underfunded’ walking and cycling in Newcastle

18th August 2019 NewCycling Press

Evening Chronicle – 30 July 2019 Campaigners are calling for a ‘Walking and Cycling Commissioner’ in the North East. A new figurehead could be appointed to spearhead efforts to improve “woefully underfunded” walking, cycling, and public transport infrastructure in the North of Tyne. Campaigners are calling on metro mayor Jamie Driscoll to appoint a new ‘Walking and Cycling Commissioner’ to help tackle the region’s air pollution and climate crisis. Sally Watson, chair of Newcastle Cycling Campaign, said “Walking, cycling and public transport are woefully underfunded, despite being the cleanest and greenest options. In the light of a climate emergency, now declared by[…]

A summary of the AGM 2019

12th June 2019 Claire News

We held our Annual General Meeting on 30 March 2019 at the Commercial Union House in Newcastle. Here is a brief account of what happened for those who couldn’t make it. The AGM kicked off with the formal business: Claire Prospert, co-founder of NewCycling and Secretary, presented the annual report of activities and John Watson, Treasurer, outlined last year’s account which continued to be very healthy. A very warm thank you to our corporate members, Saddle Skedaddle, the Cycle Hub and Apex Acoustics, our members and those of have donated money to the Campaign – you are awesome! We also agreed the members of[…]