Tag: roads

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Mobike launches its bike sharing platform in Newcastle

 

Mobike, the world’s first and largest smart bikeshare, officially launched its smart cycling scheme in Newcastle.

Starting from 16 October 2017, residents will now be able to download the app and use Mobike’s high tech silver and orange iconic bikes across Newcastle.

After successfully piloting the UK’s first council- and community-backed bicycle sharing scheme in Manchester, expanding to London and announcing a strategic partnership with British Cycling over the past few months, Mobike will deliver an initial 1,000 bikes to Newcastle, building on the bikes’ popularity with local councils and people across the country.

Over time, Mobike will work with the city to increase that number to meet growing demand for the service.

As with all of its city launches, Mobike has been working closely with Newcastle City Council and in collaboration with Northumbria University, Newcastle University and Newcastle Great Park, to adapt its operations to local demand, transport habits and cycling culture.

The Mobike app will guide users towards the best locations to pick up and park the bikes.

Newcastle users will be able to pay a discounted £2 deposit until 18 October 2017. After that, they will pay the same deposit as Manchester and London users when they sign up – £29. Riders will be charged 50p for 30 minutes.

The scheme is designed to benefit users, local business and communities, as well as Newcastle City Council by providing tailored data insights.

Unique to Mobike, the company’s entire fleet of over 7 million bikes are equipped with GPS and proprietary smart-lock technology that connect through the world’s largest mobile-enabled Internet of Things (IoT) platform.

Analysis of this data can help improve infrastructure planning in the long term, encourage proper cycling etiquette, as well as manage supply of bikes in specific locations with high demand.

Steve Pyer, UK General Manager for Mobike, said: “We’re really excited to kick off our operations in Newcastle today. It’s very rewarding to see the continuous support we get from a variety of organisations for the scheme, and from businesses keen to get involved in lots of different ways.

The city has a great ambition for improving its cycling culture and infrastructure, and we hope to play an important part in this initiative.”

Cllr Arlene Ainsley, Cabinet member for transport and air quality at Newcastle City Council, said: “It’s fantastic news that Newcastle has today become the third city in the UK to formally welcome Mobike. Like many cities, one of our major transport priorities is to reduce congestion and pollution which is caused by traffic. These problems have a negative impact on both our local economy and our health.

“One of the ways we can all make a difference is by making fewer journeys by car – particularly those shorter journeys across town which can often put a big strain on our road network. The introduction of this exciting new cycle hire scheme gives people the opportunity to change the way they travel and also improve their own health and the health of our city as a whole.”

David Jackson, Assistant Director, Campus Services, Northumbria University, added: “The launch of the Mobike Scheme is fantastic news for the city and Northumbria University is proud that through our involvement we are able to offer this opportunity to our staff, students and visitors. Mobike’s arrival will encourage students and staff to swap the car and take a bike, which will support financial savings, health and wellbeing benefits and improved air quality in the city.”

The above news release was issued by Newcastle City Council and included on the Newcastle City Council website. It has been included here for information and does not necessarily represent the views of High West Jesmond Residents’ Association.

More information about Mobike

Watch Cllr Arlene Ainsley, Cabinet member for transport and air quality at Newcastle City Council talk about Mobike in this short video from YouTube:

You can find out more about Mobike on their website at mobike.com

You can download the Mobike App from the Apple App Store or Google Play.

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Streets for People: Proposal to change road layout at Moorfield/Ilford Road

The council have today opened consultation on a series of proposals to make changes to streets in the Jesmond and High West Jesmond area as part of the Streets for People initiative.

The proposals are aimed at improving provision for pedestrians and cyclists throughout the area.

One of the proposals involves redesigning the junction of Ilford Road and Moorfield as well as adding a cycle lane, relaying pathway and narrowing the main carriageway on Moorfield.

The outline plans can be viewed following the Moorfield Information Sheet link below and further detail can be found at the information stand in Jesmond library and also the Streets for People website streetsforpeople.org.uk/jesmond

Take part in the consultation process

The proposed changes would have a significant impact on Moorfield so HWJRA would strongly encourage all local residents – and particularly those who live on or close to Moorfield – to take a close look at the plans and to participate in the consultation programme that the council has opened up.

You can feed back your thoughts on the proposal anytime up until 30 November 2017 via the Streets for People website or by completing a questionnaire at Jesmond Library.

Meeting for HWJ residents

We plan to arrange a meeting for local residents so that the Residents Association can gauge local opinion on this proposal and submit our own response to the council which would be in addition to responses from individual residents.

Come along to the residents meeting which will take place in the main room at Jesmond Library, St George’s Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 2DL on Monday 13 November 2017 at 18:30 where you can find out more and let us know your views.

Proposal C – Moorfield and Ilford Road junction

This part of the neighbourhood plan proposes changes to Moorfield between Ilford Road and Great North Road (i.e. Gosforth High Street).

Read a summary of the proposal in the Moorfield Information Sheet:

Detailed drawings for the three different sections of Moorfield that would be changed can be downloaded by clicking on the links below.

1. Moorfield, between junction with Ilford Road and Kingswood Avenue

2. Moorfield, between Kingswood Avenue and Lodore Road 

3.  Moorfield, between Lodore Road and Great North Road

And you can read more information on the Streets for People website.

Streets for People information

You can read more of the background to the Streets for People initative on our Streets for People page.

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A new website for High West Jesmond

Welcome to High West Jesmond!

Today we are launching our new High West Jesmond website, which aims to bring together information on several different community groups plus local information and news for residents living in High West Jesmond and for those with a connection to High West Jesmond.

A thriving urban community

Many of you will already know that High West Jesmond is a thriving urban community in the heart of Newcastle upon Tyne.  We are well situated between Jesmond and Gosforth – and between the Town Moor and Jesmond Dene.

Our great situation means that our residents engage easily with the wider city and its wonderful hinterland.

Community groups

You may have noticed on our home page that we have featured on 4 aspects of High West Jesmond and this website contains some information on the following groups:

High West Jesmond Residents’ Association (HWJRA)

HWJRA was established to support the residents of the local area: to promote the benefit of the inhabitants of High West Jesmond by working to maintain and improve the quality of life, preserve the character of the area and ensure that development does not adversely affect the local environment; and to assist residents in exercising their rights as members of the community including empowering them in dealing with statutory and other relevant authorities.

Blue House Roundabout

We represented High West Jesmond residents in their opposition to the original plans to build a ‘motorway style’ Blue House Roundabout on the green land of the Town Moor in 2016 and we have been actively representing residents views as a core member of the Blue House Roundabout Working Group since this was established in autumn 2016.

Communal bins

We have also been representing residents views on the proposal to introduce communal bins into High West Jesmond.  It is fair to say that this proposal has not been popular – in fact 95% of High West Jesmond residents voted AGAINST communal bins in a recent poll.

Streets for People

We are also involved with work that the council has initiated for streets for people as Jesmond is one of three areas of Newcastle where this project is to operate.

We aim to continue to represent and support our community.

Friends of the Valley and Little Dene (FOVALD)

FOVALD was established to manage, maintain and protect the open spaces in High West Jesmond known as The Valley and Little Dene.

FOVALD has a vision for a local park that provides opportunities for local residents, including children, families, young and older people, to play, relax and socialise and also where the surrounding vegetation, including trees, shrubs and plants, and the stream, are managed and maintained to not only provide an attractive setting but also to encourage nature conservation and wildlife.

Lending a Hand to maintain our green spaces

In addition members of our community have been Lending a Hand to maintain the green spaces in High West Jesmond – a group of volunteers now meet every week and have made a real difference to the quality of live in our community. FOVALD oversees this work and we are grateful to the volunteers for their time and hard work.  You can read more about the work of Lending a Hand on this website.

Allotments

High West Jesmond has three seperate allotment sites at:

  • Little Moor Allotments
  • Triangle Allotments
  • High West Jesmond Allotments

Our allotments are an inegral part of our community and we aim to add further information on them in the coming weeks.

Businesses

If you operate a business in or from High West Jesmond and you are interested in being featured on our businesses page then please get in touch with us.

Whether you operate from one of the retail outlets across High West Jesmond or your business is run from your High West Jesmond home this is your opportunity to reach your local community and set out the products or services that your provide.

News

We will update information on our standing pages from time to time, but the best place to find out the latest information is via our News pages.

Heritage

We have included a number of posts on this website regarding the heritage of High West Jesmond, including memories and photographs from some of our current and former residents.

You can see these items by selecting Heritage from the Categories side bar on this webpage.

If you have any old photographs and memories relating to High West Jesmond we would love to heard from you! Please contact us via the Contact page.

New digital communications

As part of the work to create this website we have reloaded a good number of ‘back stories’ – these are things that did happen and communications and news that was circulated around our community over the past year. You can see these on our News pages.

In the past as we did not have a website to anchor our content on at the time our earlier communications were by:

  • hard copy newsletters/leaflets through the door;
  • by email for those who had signed up to distribution lists; and
  • via the community noticeboard outside the shops on Newlands Road.

This website now provides a further digital platform to share information with High West Jesmond residents and those with a connection to our community.

In addition you can follow us on our social media accounts.

Our social media accounts

Facebook

In addition High West Jesmond Residents’ Association (HWJRA) has a Facebook group – if you are a High West Jesmond resident you are welcome to join us at the following link – www.facebook.com/groups/HWJRA/

Twitter

You can also follow us on Twitter – if you are a Twitter user then our handle is @highwestjesmond and you can read our tweets on a computer at the following link – https://twitter.com/highwestjesmond

Instagram

We are on Instagram too – and we would love you to share your photographs of High West Jesmond with us!  if you are an Instagram user then our handle is @highwestjesmond and you can read our tweets on a computer at the following link – www.instagram.com/highwestjesmond/

Thanks for visting our website

Thank you for visiting our website. We hope that you  found it useful finding out more about our High West Jesmond community in the heart of Newcastle upon Tyne.

 

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Killingworth Road project update

Metro reopened but gas mains work now starting with road closed until spring 2018

The following article has been written by Newcastle City council:

The £13.5m project will see Killingworth Road widened to reduce congestion, improve air quality, provide more efficient bus routes and make it easier and safer for people on bikes and on foot.

The first stage of works, including the replacement of the 100-year-old Metro bridge and track renewal by Nexus has been completed on schedule and Metro services have resumed.

Killingworth Road will remain closed to all traffic until spring 2018 to enable the next phase of the works – the re-location of gas mains – to be carried out.

Full details on the scheme are at newcastle.gov.uk/killingworth

 

“Mitigation measures – you said, we listened”.

Together with neighbouring councils, Nexus, bus operators and other partners we have put in place a series of measures to help keep the surrounding roads moving during the closure.

These measures are kept under review to ensure they are working effectively and to take into account feedback from residents and businesses.

In response to traffic monitoring and your feedback we are making some changes:

1. We are removing the temporary bus lane from the Brunton Bridge flyover.

We had a lot of feedback about this and our monitoring has shown that it is not having the desired effect in terms of helping traffic flows through the area.

Although it was worthwhile trying this measure during the summer holidays, in response to feedback and traffic monitoring, we have decided to remove this bus lane to coincide with the start of the new school term in September.

2. We have made changes to diversion signage and signal timings.

In response to your feedback we’ve changed the signage for the banned right turn into Salters Road, from the Great North Road, and signage at Goathland Avenue, Benton Road, Benton Lane and Hollywood Avenue.

We’ve also changed traffic signal timings at the West Farm Avenue junction with Salters Lane, the Goathland Avenue junction with Benton Lane and at Four Lane Ends.

3. We are funding more bike trains to and from the main work places.

The bike trains will run by Bike 4 Health during the weeks commencing September 11, 18 and 25.

Sign up sessions are taking place this week at HMRC, Freeman Hospital, BT, YHN and the Cobalt and Quorum business parks.

We’ll be sharing more information about the bike trains soon. Look out for #TheBikeTrain on social media.

We will continue to monitor the road network and the mitigation measures which are in place throughout the project.

Full details of our mitigation measures can be found here: newcastle.gov.uk/parking-roads-and-transport/re-newcastle-transport-improvements/connecting-key-junctions-across-5

Temporary bus lanes on Benton Lane and Benton Road

We’ve had a lot of feedback about this and about the impact of additional traffic using the Four Lane Ends junction.

These bus lanes have been essential for keeping buses moving on time during the Killingworth Road closure.

This is important because a high proportion of households in the area do not have access to a car and, as the Metro has not been running in in this area during the summer, the bus has been the only option for many people.

Information on bus diversions and fares incentives is available here: http://www.newcastle.gov.uk/parking-roads-and-transport/re-newcastle-transport-improvements/connecting-key-junctions-across-1

Advice for people walking and cycling

There is information and maps for people walking and cycling online here: newcastle.gov.uk/parking-roads-and-transport/re-newcastle-transport-improvements/connecting-key-junctions-across-2

These include recommended routes from Longbenton to South Gosforth and to Gosforth or Newcastle.

Advice for people driving

Wherever possible people are encouraged to use public transport, walk or cycle.

If people do need to drive we would advise people coming from the areas around Killingworth and to the north to travel via Sandy Lane, rather than via Four Lane Ends, which has seen greater congestion at peak times.

For those travelling to Newcastle from further north of the A19 or A189 then we would advise going south on the A1 via the Seaton Burn junction and then into Newcastle on the A167 or A695.

If you live areas around Killingworth Road there are new maps with suggested routes available online here: newcastle.gov.uk/parking-roads-and-transport/re-newcastle-transport-improvements/connecting-key-junctions-across-7

Next steps

Now that work on the Metro bridge and track renewal has been completed, Nexus and their sub-contractors will be finishing their work and leaving the site in early October.

At this point the gas board will move onto the site in order to begin their work, which will involve moving major gas mains in the area.

We appreciate people’s patience while these works are carried out.

If you have any queries please email updateme@newcastle.gov.uk

The above article was written by Newcastle City council and has been included for information purposes.  The content does not necessarily represent the views of High West Jesmond Resmond Residents’ Association.

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1950 – Kingswood Avenue

Parking was not a problem in High West Jesmond in 1950.

A heritage post by Chris Morgan

Visting High West Jesmond this weekend I couldn’t help noticing how difficult it is to park. Not like when this picture was taken in early spring 1950 in Kingswood Avenue.

Gas lamps. Wooden lock up garages on Lodore Road.

One poplar tree, the last remaining in the road from the time when the estate was laid out with each house supposed to have 2 trees!

One parked car, probably outside the bottom house of Charles Nichol, photographer.

In those days there may have been only 4 or 5 cars in the entire road, but we were troubled by learner drivers practising 3 point turns outside.

In those days, certainly until at least the late 1960s, many of the cars weren’t left on the street overnight. Those lock up garages (shown in the distance in the photograph) housed Jesmond Farm Dairies milk delivery vans and some cars.

Several houses in Kingswood were using backyards to park cars – many of those spaces now used for house extensions.

Jones’ Garage, now North Jesmond Garage, must have kept at least a dozen cars tightly squeezed in each night. In 1967 I paid 10/- (50p) a week to park my Morris Minor in there. That would probably equate to about £10 a week today.

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HWJRA meeting on 24 January 2017

Meeting for Residents of High West Jesmond

There will be a meeting to update on the proposed changes to Blue House Roundabout and Jesmond Dene Road, and the proposed introduction of Communal Bins.

The meeting of High West Jesmond Residents’ Association will be held on

Tuesday 24 January 2017 at 19:00
at Ouseburn Room, Trinity Church, Gosforth High Street

The meeting will hear from our Chairman, Nick Moore who has attended 6 meetings of the steering group for the development of Blue House Roundabout and Jesmond Dene Road junctions.

The steering group has not yet reached its final conclusion but this will be an opportunity for residents to be updated on work and to contribute thoughts about the proposals to date.

Also, following the recent news that the Council is proposing to introduce Communal Bins to our area we have invited our local Councillor Dominic Raymont to the meeting who will be able to share the latest news and listen to resident’s views on this issue.

We hope as many residents as possible will attend this meeting so that we can get a clear picture of the views of residents on both issues.
We look forward to seeing you at the meeting.

Fiona Bruce
HWJRA Secretary

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