I passed my PhD viva with minor corrections yesterday. Hasn’t quite sunk in yet! Thanks to my examiners
@ParnellRosie
and
@John_Horton_
for a such a thought-provoking discussion and to John for my 💙 Kings Heath badge!
Yesterday we cycled from Delft to Rotterdam the long way round. On cycle paths, low traffic streets and lanes. There is no way you could cycle between cities in the UK without serious advanced planning but here you just follow the numbers.
The headline is ‘Children suffering due to lack of outdoor play’ but the problem is much bigger than this. For many, if not most children, badly designed streets, dangerous drivers and too much traffic limits their movement altogether.
Newcastle Council to rip out Jesmond LTN despite the data being extremely positive. Whose voice mattered here? Not the children and young people growing up in the city. This is hugely disappointing news.
Your voice matters🤝
That’s our message as low traffic neighbourhoods in Jesmond will be removed.
Our pilot found 👇
✅ The pilot objectives were met
🚗 Residents journey times increased
🚨 Emergency services were unaffected
🗣 77 % of people opposed the scheme
👇1/2 👇
Traffic chaos in Newcastle on Saturday during the rail and bus strikes. A glimpse of what drivers have to look forward to with the new Tory pro-car policies.
And the traffic is back. All to save 2-3 minutes on driver journey times. This
@ChronicleLive
article states these went up by 28%, but doesn’t tell you that this translates as 2.2 minutes at morning peak. A former Labour cllr says
@NewcastleCC
has ‘destroyed its credibility’.
Report from Jesmond earlier as LTN bollards were removed.
One business owner said she was "so happy I could cry", but other locals accuse the council of having "destroyed its credibility".
Your own publications say most people don’t cycle because it generally isn’t safe enough. Maybe you could build us some more bike lanes
@transportgovuk
“The picture shows a good, modern council estate. The houses have light and fresh air, and the children have somewhere to play in safety” (1963)
Artist: Robert Ayton
This bonkers plan for motorists is obviously just another sign that we have a dying government. But as someone who is currently writing about the role of government guidance in limiting local powers it is also fascinating.
This is the thing I always find most striking here. Seeing girls as young as seven or eight cycling through town centres with no adult chaperone is just amazing. And why I find the backlash and motorist outrage over road closures in the UK so depressing.
Just been hit by a driver on Brentwood Ave by while cycling home from taking my daughter to school. He didn’t stop. This was at 8.55 when children are still arriving at school. We really need to do something to make this area safer
@JesmondStella
@JesmondTanya
@West_Jes_School
In my last ever week of doing the school run by bike I have already had to call the police because a driver deliberately drove at another parent who had also complained about his illegal parking and engine idling.
#ArchiveHealth
greets Margaret Cairns, Queen's District nurse, who's about to set off on her rounds on Fair Isle, Shetland 1956. The National Health Service Scotland Act 1947 made it compulsory for every council to provide District Nurses 🙏
@NHSScotland
I spoke to
@BBCNEandCumbria
yesterday about the negative impact of removing LTNs in Newcastle - in Fenham last year and now Jesmond - on children in the city, including my own. We need more of these, along with school school streets, so that children can get around safely.
Only a short hop across the North Sea but feels like a million miles away what with the news at home this week. Delft city centre is very low traffic. Great bike lanes, public transport and pedestrianised streets. Lots of children and young people out and about.
My children’s school reminded them last week that they mustn’t wear winter coats even in sub zero temperatures. It was minus one yesterday and snowing and they had to wear a fleece and shell jacket. No boots allowed, just smart leather shoes. Winter clothes to travel in banned.
Another vignette about Astrea academy trust. Parents at one of its 2ndaries in Cambs were sent a message from school yesterday warning daughters not to wear black socks over black tights. Message said that students had been reminded that this was vs the rules, despite the cold...
Not sure how he intends to do this unless he is going to return to signing off traffic orders individually. This would be a huge claw back of powers which were ceded to local authorities in the 1960s.
@NewcastleCC
This is so disappointing. The idea that you can have a perfect scheme which upsets no one is extremely naive. What is the point of having policies and making promises if you are just going to turn everything into a referendum which privileges the most vocal?
💥 "GET OFF THE ROAD, BITCH!" 9/10 women cycling in London face abuse says new LCC survey. CW: swearing, abuse descriptions
Sign the
#FreedomToRide
petition & share to add your voice >>
Full report:
If you’re at the
#RGSIBG22
conference this week please make time to come and see mine and
@alisonstenning
’s Women, Children and Play on Streets display on the ground floor of the Herschel Building.
In 1957 Newcastle council objected to Northumberland council's insistence on one garage to every four houses. The chair of the Housing Committee said: "If one in four families have cars I do not know what the position will be on the roads."
Many drivers have complained about these lanes but this is what they make possible - thanks to
@NewcastleCC
. Would be great if the painted man could be turned into a cycling girl 😀
@JaneLabour
And here’s the new government plan for drivers. Which begins ‘There’s nothing wrong with driving…’ I feel so sorry for the civil servants who had to draft this nonsense.
In 1975 residents of Hollywood Avenue in Newcastle petitioned to have their street closed because it was dangerous for their children. No one really cared about children so they had to put up with ever-increasing traffic for another 45 years. Congratulations
@welovesalters
👏
The new bollards mean some are complaining about increased journey times unfairly impacting on working mothers. For some of us it means we spend less time travelling because we don’t have to accompany cycling children part way to school everyday.
@oodavid
@NewcastleCC
My children have no choice but to cycle through this neighbourhood and I just can’t believe that anyone can think their safety is less important than someone’s car journey time.
And this is what happens if you add some usable space to the ends of streets when you remove the motor traffic. Two boys playing football and two sitting on the wall chatting.
Newcastle City Council has now cancelled three LTNs and has still not announced if or how it will spend its ATE3 allocation of £7.7m. Seems to be at odds with pronouncements made in relation to new council plan
Another of Newcastle's low traffic neighbourhoods to be axed.
@NewcastleCC
confirms that its Heaton LTN will not be made permanent when its 18-month trial expires on April 23.
Police object to a playground because it might cause anti-social behaviour and councillors reject the plan. Depressing to see how little children are valued.
His answer was no, children are not a priority. Concern’s about children’s play had a significant influence on postwar housing, particularly through the work of the Ministry of Housing & Local Government. Children are not even on the agenda of today’s equivalent department.
We asked the Minister for Housing and Planning,
@Lee4NED
, whether
@LUHC
is working effectively with other departments to deliver for children.
Find out more about our inquiry into children, young people and the built environment 👉
A new experimental traffic order has closed (opened) five streets in Jesmond today. An earlier experimental order closed six streets here (area 5 on the Jesmond Plan, 1966) in 1970.
The play street signs around Chilly Road Primary will be joined by school street signs next week. Wonder whether there are any other streets in the country which are both play streets and school streets?
Yesterday a car crash which left one vehicle upside down. Today the pavement is fenced off and children have to walk in the carriageway. Up this same road. Please can something be done about this asap
@JaneLabour
my daughter says it was very scary with drivers passing very close.
Major car crash at the Corner House junction less than 30 minutes after hundreds of school children passed through here on the way to
@JesmondPark
. Is there any news on when this junction improvement will go ahead
@JaneLabour
?
Hearing about school streets at fantastic
@MumsForLungs
event. Look how amazing this is. From wall to wall cars to a play space. Hope to see this here soon
@NewcastleCC
@GedBell
Three weeks to go until PhD deadline day. Minor panic about referencing but thankfully my oldest has managed to edit my referencing software. The irony that he can do this because he spent his childhood in front of a computer and not playing out does not escape me.
BREAKING: it is now unavoidable, will be taking strike action as no attempt to negotiate has reached us from senior management. FIRST STRIKE DAY 23 JUNE, TOMORROW, THIS IS AN OPEN DAY! COME PICKET 3
#oneofusallofus
#settlethedispute
I love the optimism of those who have never done public engagement/consultation on planning before. The idea that there will be no controversy if you can just get the consultation right is so 1960s.
@NewcastleCC
And no lessons seem to have been learned about informing people about change in a timely fashion. What mitigation are you putting in place to ensure all the children travelling through this area will be safe next week when the traffic returns?
But I will judge
@NewcastleCC
if they remove the bollards in Jesmond which are currently keeping my children safe on part of their journey to school. Sadly have heard rumour that this is likely to happen.
My children’s school assembly today was about road safety. Telling children to keep themselves safe and showing them a video of a driver running a red light and hitting a child from the school. I don’t judge the school, who are rightly worried and have no control over this.
Many schools like
@JesmondPark
are not complying with new law to make uniforms more affordable - instead of passing these items on to younger sibling we have had to spend £56 buying new items because each year group has a different colour
@CatMcKinnell
And here is Pooley Bridge. After 33 miles walking between three youth hostels, having eaten lots of fudge and with sore feet, now we’re on our way home by bus, train and metro.
Hello Lake District. Me and the youngest have three days of walking and hostelling from Windermere to Pooley Bridge ahead of us. We have to use those
@YHAOfficial
hostels or we’ll lose them! Please pray to the weather gods on our behalf. I have a feeling this sunshine won’t last.
We’ve cycled an improbable 70 miles over two days in 35 degree heat in Brittany. Other than the lovely Nantes-Brest canal, we’ve done a thorough sampling of tabacs - can’t beat them for lemonade, water, toilets and various odd extras depending on location. Mini doughnuts today.
Great news - Newcastle to keep their traffic-free bridges. Big thanks to
@NewcastleCC
@NCC_Leader
@GedBell
and
@arleneainsley
who had to take so much flack for these small changes which make such a big difference to people walking and cycling.
We’re committed to creating safer, cleaner and greener neighbourhoods which is why we have made the decision to keep Salters Bridge, Dene Bridge, Haldane Bridge, Argyle Street Bridge and Stoneyhurst Road Bridge permanently closed to vehicles. Read more at
A rare luxury today - a whole day talking about play research and activism. Even included chalking on an abandoned 70s playground (with obligatory bollards).
The high cost of fixing potholes - ‘cabinet member Paul Frew told Monday evening’s civic centre meeting that part of the problem was that cars “keep getting bigger” and thereby put more strain on roads’.
Someone has just got in touch to say that after an earlier rejection, their play street application has now been approved. A huge thank you to
@NewcastleCC
. Hope that we can get many more play streets up and running here
@JaneLabour
@playmeetstreet
@playingout
Good to see some bike parking back on Saville Row even if it is the ideal spot for bike thieves. But it’s way too close to the wall so useless if you don’t have a kickstand. Hope you are still doing snagging here
@NewcastleCC
Just horrendous. Hard to imagine what those families must be going through. Why people are allowed to take these vehicles anywhere near schools is beyond me.
There are over 200
#KidicalMass
rides taking place in a total of 15 countries this weekend and two of them are in Newcastle and North Tyneside. If you live locally please join us! Everyone welcome. There will be 🧁 for Newcastle cyclists and 🍦 at the coast
@KidicalMassNE
Delft has dozens of these small play spaces between terraced housing and flats. Lots of young children playing in them. Sometimes with parents, sometimes without.
8 in 10 parents & carers say zebra crossings on side roads would make them feel safer walking their children to school. Today we've announced new side road zebra trials to help
@WestMids_CA
and
@greatermcr
with their devolution deals. Watch our video with
@Chris_Boardman
🦓🚶♂️👩🦽🛴
My oldest was followed up Shortridge Tce on his bike today by an impatient driver blasting his horn. He’s 13 years old and was on his way home from school. He doesn’t want to cycle on the pavement but won’t have much choice if the roads aren’t safe
@flissmen
@CharlieJGray
You might want to share this with your public health and transport teams given you’ve removed two such scheme in Fenham and Jesmond in the past six months
@NewcastleCC
New paper out, open access in Journal of Transport & Health :) Impacts of active travel interventions on travel behaviour and health: Results from a five-year longitudinal travel survey in Outer London.
After a long two years on zoom, I'm really looking forward to sharing my research in person this week at the
@UrbanHistoryCUP
conference. I'll be talking about planning for children's play in Newcastle in the 60s and 70s.
@KirstyLewin
Ugh. Today a man tailgated me on a residential street blasting his horn because, he said, he wanted me to get out of the way. It happens a lot. Thanks to to passerby who laughed at him and told him he just had to wait because that was the rules.
Perhaps not surprising to see
@GuyOpperman
spreading misinformation about LTNs. There weren’t 23,000 objections to the Jesmond LTN. Fewer than 3,000 people responded to the consultation
@transportgovuk
@activetraveleng
Great start to the Cycle County conference in Oxford. Chris Boardman saying that all children and young people should have the freedom to ride their bikes that these girls have
#CycleCounty2023
Really not going to miss the wacky races driving and the daily dicing with death. But unfortunately both children will now have to cope with this on their own because no one in authority seems to be in any hurry to make it safer for them.
Cruddas Recreation Ground was donated 'in perpetuity as a Public Recreation Ground for the children and inhabitants of the neighbourhood'. How depressing to find that there is now a car dealership on the site.
Because it is impossible to buy school uniform from an actual shop in the city centre which everyone has reasonably good access to, today we had to cycle to Kingston Park. A journey under 2 miles from S Gosforth which took 20 mins. But so many barriers on the way.
Every city should have a plan for play! Well done
@perry_jims
and team who have worked so hard on this and fantastic to see
@myworcester
considering the needs of children and young people 👏👏👏
What I love about finding a decision to pedestrianise or stop up a road is the inevitable street view photo of children enjoying the space. The decision about Roxburgh Place was made in 1975. I bet hundreds of children have enjoyed hanging out on that wall since then.
All parents deserve to be able to get around safely with their children. And all parents are working parents - even the ones who aren’t paid. So thanks to
@JaneLabour
for trying to improve things for people who want to or have to get around without a car.
We enjoyed a sunny ride around Jesmond and Gosforth with
@SPACEforJesmond
this afternoon. Lovely to see so many children enjoying the traffic free and low traffic routes. All of these created in the last decade.
My children’s school reminded them last week that they mustn’t wear winter coats even in sub zero temperatures. It was minus one yesterday and snowing and they had to wear a fleece and shell jacket. No boots allowed, just smart leather shoes. Winter clothes to travel in banned.
Campaigns to make streets outside schools safe take too long. A child at my son’s school was run over by a driver this week. That child is likely to be an adult before the adults themselves get round to making the road safer.
Last year, 27 450 people were killed or seriously injured on Britain’s roads.
@scarlettmcnally
looks at how we can prioritise our health by making roads safer
The Tyne Bridge is soon to go down to two lanes and the only mitigation is to fiddle with the traffic lights and remove low traffic neighbourhoods. There is funding for bus lanes but private car owners are to be prioritised instead. So much for supporting public transport.
One thing which is striking is how the play spaces in the small green spaces in housing of all ages has been maintained and even improved here in the Netherlands. Many people in the UK probably aren’t aware that we had lots of spaces like this in the 1970s and into the 80s.
“Children in Newcastle left with nowhere to play”. Elswick has a long history of innovative play spaces which were hard won by local residents and which often didn’t last for long. Very sad to see people are still having to fight for basic provision.
Hello Lake District. Me and the youngest have three days of walking and hostelling from Windermere to Pooley Bridge ahead of us. We have to use those
@YHAOfficial
hostels or we’ll lose them! Please pray to the weather gods on our behalf. I have a feeling this sunshine won’t last.
BREAKING
@AndyBurnhamGM
, pending re-election, has tonight announced the rollout of 100 permanent school streets across Greater Manchester by the end of 2028
The replica Tutankhamun mask at the
@GNM_Hancock
- this was made for the museum by Ken Rebair from Byker. Ken was a craftsman who worked at Swan Hunter and also made structures and carved features for Byker at the request of the Erskine office architects.
@bendav1es
@NewcastleCC
Someone once told me that NE3 has the highest percentage of medics of any postcode in the country so imagine you won’t find it difficult to recruit. These bollards reduce traffic and mean local children can get around safely. Something you’d hope GPs would support.
Wishing the best of luck to all those standing in tomorrow's local elections who support making street safer for children. It seems ridiculously difficult to make this 👇 happen - sadly many adults will fight to tooth and nail to prevent it - but it is 100% worth it.
#weloveourLTN
4yo’s “homework” this week is a number hunt so we got on our bikes & roamed the streets. We could chat, spot numbers, and get some crucial riding practice in. It’s great being 4 and being safe in your street. What’s not to love?
@welovesalters
@space4gosforth