We are all familiar with thinking about the environmental and health aspects of traffic - congestion, pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, noise, accidents, physical inactivity - but what about the economics, the actual costs of these things in pounds? And how do these negative impacts affect Gosforth High Street, as these are the issues that the soon-to-be-announced proposals for the High Street need to fix?
In 2009 the UK government calculated the negative impact of transport on the UK economy
Read more [...]
Newcastle City Council have announced they will be holding a Policy Cabinet meeting to discuss the plan that Newcastle has been asked to create by the Government in order to ensure the currently illegal air quality in the city meets legal targets in the shortest possible timescales. This event is open to all interested stakeholders. Read more [...] 
Poor Air quality is well known for its ability to make people ill and to shorten lives and has been linked to cancer, asthma, stroke and heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and dementia. You may have heard of Alive After Five, the late night shopping initiative in Newcastle City Centre that has free parking as a major feature to attract shoppers. SPACE for Gosforth has had a long-standing concern that driving is the only means of transport being promoted for access into the city at this time and that this is contributing to illegal levels of air pollution in Newcastle City Centre. 
The Government has announced its Air quality plan for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in UK (2017). The objective of the plan is to reduce concentrations of NO2 around roads where levels are above legal limits and to do so within the shortest possible time. To achieve this the Government has directed local authorities to create their own draft plan to achieve this by March 2018. 
One of our members was so concerned about idling engines by his children's school - so he decided some education was needed! 
In previous posts we looked at air quality data on Gosforth High Street and on Jesmond Road in the run up to Christmas last year, which showed a marked increase in pollution after Black Friday, 25 November 2016. In this post we look at what has happened to air quality at these sites since then. 
In this post we look at the City Centre Air Quality Management Area (AQMA), including equivalent figures from the air quality monitor sited at Jesmond Road, 150m west of the Osborne Avenue traffic lights, to see how this compares to Salters Road and whether the recent increase in air pollution is replicated there. 
Since Black Friday, 25 November 2016, readings from the new air quality monitor at the Salters Road car park say the average level of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) has been 50.3 micrograms per cubic metre (μg/m3) or 26% above the legal limit. The legal limit is 40 μg/m3 averaged over a year. It was high levels of nitrogen dioxide that led to the creation of the South Gosforth Air Quality Management Area in 2008.
While air pollution is damaging to health, personal exposure travelling further 
If we want the High Street to thrive as a family destination and the businesses to prosper, then we need to make the High Street a safe environment where parents are happy to window shop with their children. A 20 mph limit from Salters Road to the Town Moor would be the first step in making Gosforth High Street as family friendly as its businesses.
The sheer quantity and quality of destinations for children on and around Gosforth High Street is amazing.
There are places children regularly