Newcastle City Council has confirmed the outcome of its Gosforth High Street bus lane trial.
In a Twitter/X post featuring a long out-of-date picture of Gosforth High Street, the Council announced the decision, saying that they are "investing in your commute" by making the bus lane on Gosforth High Street permanent.
In doing so, the Council have acknowledged that the intention of the trial was never to support High Street businesses, nor to enable people to travel safely to the shops. Read more [...] Gosforth High Street Bus Lane Decision
Newcastle City Council has confirmed the outcome of its Gosforth High Street bus lane trial.
In a Twitter/X post featuring a long out-of-date picture of Gosforth High Street, the Council announced the decision, saying that they are "investing in your commute" by making the bus lane on Gosforth High Street permanent.
In doing so, the Council have acknowledged that the intention of the trial was never to support High Street businesses, nor to enable people to travel safely to the shops. Read more [...] 
At 12 June 2024 City Council, Councillor Woodwark (Lib Dems, Gosforth Ward) asked a question about injuries recorded on Gosforth High Street since the Council's bus lane trial was installed. 
The Council haven't published a report on the Gosforth High Street ETRO consultation that finished in September 2023, so we thought we would have a look at what people said. 
According to the North East Road User Casualties dashboard nine people have been injured on Gosforth High Street between April 2023, when the bus lane trial was introduced, and the end of February 2024. The average for the same period in the previous ten years, 2014 to 2023, was 3.4. 
In August we had a team walk along Gosforth High Street to see if we could come up with some ideas for what could be tried out fairly cheaply as part of the current trial arrangements. Below are 10 ideas, which we hope Newcastle City Council will consider. 
Gosforth High Street is our most important local destination in Gosforth. We want the shops to be successful and, as we set out in our previous blog, an important part of that is enabling people to get to and move around Gosforth High Street safely. 
Newcastle City Council has proposed a new layout for Gosforth High Street. SPACE for Gosforth is very concerned this plan won't make the High Street any safer, doesn't do anything to improve the shopping environment and doesn't appear to be the result of any meaningful community engagement. This is the SPACE for Gosforth response. 
It is now over eighteen months since wands were installed on Gosforth High Street as part of the Council's response to Covid. This blog looks beyond the look and feel of the wands, focusing instead on their impact on traffic volumes, air pollution and road safety, and suggests specific actions that could be taken to help the High Street thrive in future.