Category Archives: Safety

Blue House Roundabout

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. Read more [...]

Blue House to Haddricks Mill – Comments by 21 August

  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 Read more [...]

Important dates for East Gosforth – 13 July Ward Survey closes, 18 July Annual Priority Event

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 Read more [...]

Pedestrian Priority on Gosforth High Street

New proposals for Gosforth High Street have been released  by Newcastle City Council today. These proposals include pedestrian-priority crossings on side streets, revised parking arrangements and a reduced speed limit. While the 'Red Route' plans are still officially on the table, the Council has agreed to work with SPACE for Gosforth and local business owners to see if alternative approaches can be found that address issues such as the High Street's poor safety record, air quality and Read more [...]

Gosforth Speed Cameras Make the News

The Chronicle recently published a report on the region's speed cameras asking "where are you most likely to get caught? And how many drivers paid the price for breaking the speed limit in 2015?" The answer (according to the Chronicle) was "B1318 Great North Road Blue House" - the fixed speed camera at the south end of Gosforth High Street. This was activated by speeding vehicles 4,625 times in 2015 - more than any other speed enforcement camera in the entire north east region. It is worth Read more [...]

Safe Overtaking – Sign the Petition

A new parliamentary petition, which you can sign here, was created on 29 April to seek a permanent, minimum 1 - 1.5m passing distance when overtaking cyclists. Why is this important? We know that getting more people cycling will help address issues like pollution and congestion, but that many people choose not to cycle because they don't feel safe on the roads. This is as true in Gosforth as anywhere else. For example, the 2013 - British Social Attitudes Survey found that 69% of Read more [...]

“We feel unsafe”

SPACE for Gosforth is privileged to have permission from Archibald First School to publish an e-mail recently sent to parents. Children at Archibald First School asked the school to e-mail parents about their experience of travelling to school.  Their school supported them, but the letter is the children's own work and not something created as part of their lessons. These are those children's words.     Read more [...]

1000 Speeding Drivers – A typical day on Gosforth’s back streets

Even at 20mph 17% of adults are killed or seriously injured when hit by a car. For children or older residents the figures will be worse. Why then do so many ignore the 20mph speed limits in place throughout Gosforth’s back streets? Walking to school should not be an extreme sport. This is the story of three of Gosforth’s back streets. One has a low volume of traffic mostly driving within the speed limit, somewhere we all might like to live and where children might reasonably be left to play Read more [...]

Billion Pound Issues on Gosforth High Street

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 [...]

Station Road: SPACE meets Cllr Gallagher to discuss members’ concerns about parking plans

On Monday evening, three SPACE for Gosforth members met Councillor Henry Gallagher (who represents East Gosforth Ward) at Station Road. The meeting was organised at very short notice due to safety concerns raised by SPACE members relating to proposals for Station Road.  A member of the infrastructure team from local cycling campaign group Newcycling was also able to attend to discuss issues relating to cycling. SPACE members have concerns about these proposals however because Station Road, Read more [...]