a thriving urban community in Newcastle upon Tyne
A robust display of opposition by the local community was demonstrated today against the plans put forward by Newcastle City Council for the Blue House Roundabout and Jesmond Dene Road junctions.
Here is a short video posted to YouTube by Simon Jones that we thought you might like to see.
The Council are about to make 2 decisions that affect our area in a BIG way!
The Council’s plans for moving the Blue House Roundabout 50 metres north and making it about ten times the size of the current roundabout have been met with almost unanimous disbelief and anger.
Motorists, cyclists, pedestrians, environmentalists, local residents and businesses – pretty much everybody – have expressed serious concerns over the plans to tear up nearly 5 acres of beautiful Town Moor land, cut down 100 mature trees and construct a “motorway-style” roundabout in the middle of Little Moor and Dukes Moor. And for what purpose? The Council has not produced any traffic information to justify a proposal of this scale.
As well as being part of the Town Moor, the Little Moor has been a designated “public open space” serving Jesmond and Gosforth residents for more than 80 years. lt rentains a popular and well used space in an area where access to such spaces is very limited. The road proposal will reduce the space by more than a third and the attractiveness of the space for recreational purposes will be severely curtailed.
Petitions, news reports and all manner of social media activity are all united in their condemnation of this proposal.
The Council also plans to make changes to our local streets including:
Many residents need to access Jesmond for doctors, dentists, shops, banking, leisure – not everybody can do this by walking or cycling.
lf these proposals go through then the only way to drive into Jesmond would be to go down to Forsyth Road (already identified by locals as a traffic black spot), or further on down to Clayton Road and all the associated school traffic.
The only other route available would be to drive all the way down to the Central Motorway and come up Osborne Road from the South!
The number 33 bus would also have to be re-routed under these plans.
ln order to have a direct impact on the Council’s thinking and to make sure your views get heard, it is essential that you make your feelings clear to the main decision makers.
Here are the three places that we suggest you respond to by 21 August:
Respond constructively to the council at the above web address to tell them your thoughts on the proposals – both for the Blue House Roundabout and Jesmond Dene Road.
There are already a number of good posts on the website stating sensible objections – you will probably have your own points to add.
www.freemenofnewcastle.org/contact.html
Contact the Freemen at the above website and let them know your feelings about the suggested destruction of 5 acres of Little Moor and Dukes Moor as well as the ripping up of over 100 mature trees.
The following are quotes from the Freemen’s website that you may want to reference in your response:
“ln many respects the prime value of the Freemen’s rights is that they protect the open space, a wonderlul asset for the City ond its residents. This has been their main consideration over the last 250 years”
“The Newcastle upon Tyne Town Moor Act 1988 protects the rights of the Freemen …….. the Freernen are now in a stronger position to protect the open space from development. Various schemes ore still proposed from time to time and the Freemen will remain vigilant in protecting the Moors”.
“The commitment of the Freemen to protect the Moors, not just for future generations of Freemen, but for the City and citizens of Newcastle is paramount”.
catherine.mckinnell.mp@parliament.uk
Let Catherine know your feelings about the proposals – the impact it will have on the local environment, the real difficulties it will cause for residents in her constituency and the fact that the plans sit uncomfortably with the grant given to Newcastle City Council for Newcastle to be a carbon neutral city.
High West Jesmond Residents’ Association will be writing as an organisation to the above but the count of individual opinion is important and as your local residents’ committee we urge you all to make your voice heard – whatever your feelings about the proposals – by responding to the council, the Freeman and our local MP at the addresses outlined above.
You can download and print our Make your voice heard leaflet here.
If you don’t have access to the internet or you prefer sending a traditional letter then please write to:
Graham Grant
Head of Transport Investment
Newcastle City Council
9th Floor
Civic Centre
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 8QH
Sir Len Fenwick
Freemen of Newcastle upon Tyne
Moorbank Lodge
Claremont Road
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE2 4NL
Catherine McKinnell MP
House of Commons
London
SWlA OAA
All responses must be sent by 21 August 1996 so please don’t delay.
A “Town Hall” meeting has been caleld by Chi Onwurah, MP for Newcastle Central on 24 August 2016 18:00 at Trinity Church, Gosforth High Street, Newcastle so that local residents can find out more about the proposals put forward by Newcastle City Council for the major building work at Blue House Roundabout and Jesmond Dene Road that threaten the green open space of teh Town Moor.
Tickets are available in advance through a dedicated website.
We urge you to book your tickets and find out more at the meeting.
High West Jesmond Residents’ Association strongly objects to the plans in consultation put forward by Newcastle City Council for the Blue House Roundabout and Jesmond Dene Road junctions.
In conjunction with other affected residents groups and other local organisations we invite you to let your voice be heard by coming along to the March on the Moor on 21 August 2016 with banners/placards or anything else to make your views known.
Friends of the Valley and Little Dene Annual Report
2015 was celebrated as our “Centenary Year” – marking 100 years continuous use of the Valley by residents of High West Jesmond!
The main event, the Centenary Festival in early June, was not blessed with the best weather.
Our pitching of tents and gazebos invariably encourages the usual rain clouds to pay us a visit! However, a good crowd attended, the stalls sold out, our “Town Crier” was in good voice and lots of new residents took an interest in the history of the Valley and signed up as supporters.
A bonus was that in the run-up to the festival we found former resident Bev Bagnall, whose family lived on Lodore Road in the 1950’s & 60’s. His family photos gave us a glimpse of what the original Valley looked like before the City Council filled it in 1962.
A big “thank you” to all who helped make it a successful day, including the promotions company NE1 for 3 excellent gazebos, to our local café “Deliciously Decadent” for a lovely cake, to Chris & his Dad at our “Simply Local” shop for a bottle of whisky for the tombola, Andy at North Jesmond Garage for the energy supply and to St George’s Church and St Hilda’s Church for the tables and chairs.
The festival was complemented by a Family Picnic arranged in August by David & Sarah Dargue. The weather was much kinder and, as can be seen below, between 15-20 families enjoyed the afternoon and early evening.
Thanks to David, Sarah and everyone who contributed. It’s hoped that the picnic will become a regular event.
Preceding both of these events was the Easter Egg Hunt – adults(!) as well as children searching for goodies among the undergrowth and nooks & crannies. Fun was had by all!
Hedgehogs were spotted on the Valley in 2015, hopefully a spin-off from the wildlife shelters that we’ve created. Hedgehogs are becoming endangered, so if you spot one please let us know!
The vegetation in the Little Dene is now very dense in places, a consequence of falling trees, which is perhaps one of the reasons why so many foxes have been sighted during the year.
The spring flowers and wildflowers continue to please – not just us, but also the insect population! Lots of bees & butterflies seen and heard over the summer. A target for 2016 will be to identify the types of butterflies, as well as carrying out bird and bat surveys.
In terms of the arboriculture: the two chestnut trees next to Newlands Road were quite spectacular last spring; the hazel trees next to the culvert are thriving & provide an excellent food source for the squirrels and field mice; the rhododendrons in the NE corner of the Valley are now making a significant contribution.
Our application, which was submitted in June 2014, has still not been finally resolved by the City Council.
The only objection to our application was from the City Council itself, as “landlord”. In dealing with the objection and our comments, the Council sought advice from two barristers.
The legal advice that they received indicated that we may not have satisfied one of the criteria in the 2006 Commons Act. We do not intend to employ a barrister to contest this. Therefore, we continue to wait to hear from the City Council.
Several of our members & supporters passed on during 2015:
Charles Hall, Rectory Road. Aged 92, Charles was one of our founding members.
Chris Craig, Lodore Road. Aged 63, Chris was a regular at our events.
Sybil Durno, Newlands Road. Aged 96, Sybil had used the Valley since 1935 and gave an excellent statement in support of our Village Green application.
Barry Parmley, Lodore Road. Barry was a long-time supporter & a regular at events.
John Parker, Rectory Rd. Aged 85, John was also a long time supporter and a volunteer at most of our events.
All will be sorely missed. However, we are sure that they would appreciate the number of young families and children using the Valley in 2015.
Committee of Friends of the Valley and Little Dene
December 2014
The following article was published on the BBC News Tyne & Wear website.
A petition against plans to build a large road junction on land protected by an act of parliament has been signed by hundreds of people.
The Blue House roundabout, on the outskirts of Newcastle, is congested and unsafe, the city council has said.
The authority proposes moving it and expanding it on to the Town Moor.
Sarah Edgar, who started the petition, said the scheme was “environmentally damaging, very expensive and is completely over the top in its scale“.
The 1988 Newcastle Upon Tyne Town Moor Act prevents development on the moor without permission of the city’s Freemen.
They have been approached for comment.
The Labour-run council said the current roundabout was congested, did not work well for public transport, pedestrians and cyclists and had one of the worse safety records in the city.
The authority said it had a responsibility to ensure the junction becomes safer and does not “constrain growth” in housing and employment.
The plans are at an early consultation stage, it said.
Hundreds of people had commented online and the response had been “overwhelmingly negative”, Mrs Edgar said.
Residents have called it “completely out of proportion” and a “monumental and misguided waste of money”.
The consultation period – due to end on 21 August – was a “very short window for response” when many were away on holiday, Mrs Edgar said.
“This is an irreversible decision that cuts into our great city’s precious green space.”
Liberal Democrat transport spokesman Greg Stone said the plans were “more radical and have a far bigger ‘footprint’ than many had envisaged”.
“We share local anxiety that this has a disproportionate impact on the Town Moor – a unique jewel in our city’s crown,” he said.
“We would welcome clarity as to whether the Freemen support this proposal.”
The above article was published on the BBC News Tyne & Wear website.