Comments on: Blue House to Haddricks Mill – Comments by 21 August

By: Ioakim Spyridopoulos

Ioakim Spyridopoulos — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 23:25:57 +0000

After actually looking at the plans at the public viewing I have to apologise for my initial comment, where I focussed on pedestrian and cyclist safety. It is pretty obvious to me now, that the plans present a monstrosity, designed to link up highways (such as at Kenton Park or Silverlink). May be the council should save the money, leave the roundabout as it is, and replace the busses with electric busses ?

By: geoff

geoff — Sat, 30 Jul 2016 20:25:27 +0000

I am with Rob on this. The roundabout does not need to be moved. It should be made safer for cyclists and pedestrians but should not make it easier for private cars. We should be discouraging use of cars for commuting from Gosforth area in to town,encouraging shifting to other modes (cycling, pedestrians and buses). Making it easier for cars will only encourage them. The loss of substantial space on the Moor should not be accepted for a small benefit.

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 19:21:50 +0000

The current set up is terrible for peds and bikes but it can be improved without cutting up invaluable city centre green space. Proposals are just far too big for the amount of traffic that only ever gets heavy at rush hour. I use Blue House every day to car commute but also run in the area so can see the need for improvement, but clearer lane signage, yellow box junctions, temp lights for rush hour and on ped/bike demand outside of that must be cheaper and more efficient and effective than this scheme

By: Sylvia S

Sylvia S — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 13:53:30 +0000

This a copy and paste of my comment on streetlife which I wanted to share here too.
“What do the planners have against Gosforth? Having ruined the salter road junction with no evidence of improved safety, to any road user, no increase in cycling activity and with increase in tail -backs right to the pedestrian crossing near moor crescent, how can they justify creating a bottle neck by moving the Blue house roundabout 50 meters north of where it is!!?? how does this improve air quality for people living and walking about that area?
This is going to be a disaster for us in Gosforth. We must stop it.

By: Rupert

Rupert — Mon, 25 Jul 2016 22:26:57 +0000

In reply to Sandy Irvine. Sandy, thanks for the feedback. We are currently working through the plans to come up with a detailed response, which will no doubt include the issues you raise.

By: Sandy Irvine

Sandy Irvine — Mon, 25 Jul 2016 18:24:17 +0000

I am a bit surprised that you do not emphasise the main objection to the Blue House: the big chunk being gouged out of the Town Moor. At the consultation tonight, the officials failed to provide any comparative images/drawings to show the scale of the loss nor were they able to put the loss of percentage terms. The images of the scheme all show fully mature and healthy trees. They also omit the extra traffic that might well be generated if, for the time being, traffic flows speed up. This scheme is retrograde, just a reheating of the flawed thinking that believed new road and/or bigger roads were the solution. The officials also cited different likely costs.

By: Ioakim Spyridopoulos

Ioakim Spyridopoulos — Mon, 25 Jul 2016 12:04:38 +0000

I think the design looks ok at first sight. Regarding cycling I have 2 comments:
1. Will there be traffic lights to stop cars when crossing ?
2. How long do cyclists will have to wait to cross the whole roundabout when coming from Gosforth and cycle down town ? If there are 3 separate traffic lights, each 2 min wait, then this could mean a very long wait standing in traffic and inhaling cars exhausts. Also, there is no point to encourage cycling, if it takes longer than before to get through traffic
3. In the Netherlands, this roundabout would give priority to cyclists