The new Blue House is not designed just to cope with current traffic levels. The Council, we believe, is forecasting significant growth in traffic through this roundabout, leading directly to the junction's massive size and loss of green space on the Town Moor. We thought we would have a look at the Council's plans to see where this additional traffic might come from and what the impact might be on Newcastle as a whole.
Helpfully the 'Newcastle City Council: Pinchpoint Application Fund Read more [...] Blue House – at what cost to health?
The new Blue House is not designed just to cope with current traffic levels. The Council, we believe, is forecasting significant growth in traffic through this roundabout, leading directly to the junction's massive size and loss of green space on the Town Moor. We thought we would have a look at the Council's plans to see where this additional traffic might come from and what the impact might be on Newcastle as a whole.
Helpfully the 'Newcastle City Council: Pinchpoint Application Fund Read more [...] 
Of the three proposals open for comment on the Commonplace website the proposal for the Blue House roundabout has attracted by far the most comments, almost all of which are negative due to the size of the proposed replacement and the consequential loss of green space.
While the Council might seek to justify this with a forecast increase in motor traffic, it would also be a significant loss to the City. The health benefits of green space are well known but there are also economic benefits. 
Newcastle Council have published new plans for Haddricks Mill and Blue House roundabouts. These will be major changes that will considerably alter both locations. Changes are also proposed for Jesmond Dene Road at the junction with Osborne Road.
The Council's stated motivation for these schemes include safety, air quality and improving the efficiency of the roundabouts for motor vehicle traffic. All of these locations currently have high volumes of vehicle traffic and poor records 
The East Gosforth online ward event survey closes this Wednesday and the East Gosforth Annual Ward Priority Event for all residents is on Monday 18 July. They will help determine how the East Gosforth ward budget of £5,630 is spent, and they're important ways to have your say for your area.
Each ward in the city now has a survey and event rather than the previous system of four ward meetings per year. This new system results from recent changes to the council wards in Newcastle. West Gosforth 
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 
People in Gosforth are becoming more and more concerned about pollution near major roads and especially on Gosforth High Street. As we have a high proportion of older and younger residents – those most at risk from its debilitating effects – this is not surprising. On Saturday the 17th of October members of SPACE for Gosforth spent time on the High Street with a pollution monitor measuring very fine particles (PM2.5s), one of the most dangerous types of pollution.
The monitor ran for over 
Newcastle City Council are proposing improvements for the north of the city centre and are asking residents and visitors to provide comments on their proposals. The amount of traffic going into the city centre directly affects how much traffic we see (and how much pollution we breathe) on Gosforth’s streets. Providing safe and attractive alternatives in the city centre, such as improved cycling facilities or more reliable public transport, should also help reduce traffic and pollution in Gosforth.
SPACE 
Members of SPACE for Gosforth were on Gosforth High Street on Saturday 17 October talking to local people and raising awareness of air pollution issues. We had with us two air quality monitors, one measuring PM2.5 and one measuring PM10.
PM2.5 is the name for very fine particles (Particulate Matter) mainly produced by diesel engines that float around in the air and are so small that they penetrate deep into human lungs. Once there they can get into the blood stream, causing a variety of 
Gosforth High Street is one of the busiest, most polluted streets in Newcastle. It is also a busy shopping centre in a neighbourhood with a high proportion of families and older people – exactly those most at risk from the effects of air pollution.
There are a number of ways to deal with these risks, falling broadly into four categories:
1) Replacing or upgrading existing vehicles to run on less polluting fuels or have more efficient engines.
2) Managing traffic flow to minimise stopping