The air pollution monitory (and teddy bear) on Gosforth High Street

SPACE for Gosforth: A look back at 2015

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For most of 2015 SPACE for Gosforth was a collection of ideas. Ideas about the sort of place we want to live, about how streets can be designed for people and made safer for everyone, about Gosforth as a destination rather than a “transport corridor” and about how we as a community of residents, friends and neighbours take responsibility, how we engage with proposed changes and ensure that we are informed about issues and understand the solutions being proposed.

SPACE for Gosforth was a plan to make a difference.

Then, in September, SPACE got bigger … a lot bigger … and we began to put our plan into action.

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We started with a launch meeting at the Gosforth Hotel to talk about the High Street plans and to seek feedback on our ideas for how those plans might be improved.

At that meeting we asked those present, all residents and users of Gosforth High Street, to tell us what they liked and disliked about the High Street. The answer was clear: there’s lots to like but we need to do something about the traffic. 

It was also clear though that some of the main issues, not least pollution and road safety, were not widely understood and were missing from the public debate.

To fix this:

Although the Gosforth High Street plans are yet to be published, the Council did announce two consultations of interest to Gosforth residents.

  • We arranged a meeting to talk through the City Centre North proposals – covering the key walking and cycling routes from the city centre to Gosforth.
  • We shared our views on Broadway to Brunton Lane proposals for a new off-road cycle track, one that we hope will be suitable for families and children and set the standard for the rest of Gosforth.

We expect Newcastle Council will publish proposals for Gosforth High Street early in 2016: when this happens we will arrange a further meeting to talk through the scheme.

To share and seek feedback on issues and our ideas we have also presented to:

As well as creating this blog we also have a Facebook group, a Twitter feed, a Streetlife page and an e-mail list for residents to find out more information and to raise concerns. We are pleased to see that local Councillors and Traders have begun to use these forums as well.

But this is only the beginning.

If you want to find out more, provide feedback or help us investigate issues and propose solutions see our Join Us page here.

In 2016 we have a whole year to make a difference!