Plans to pedestrianise one of Newcastle city centre’s busiest and most polluted streets have been put under review, it has been confirmed.
Progress has stalled on efforts to turn the Blackett Street bus and taxi route into a vehicle-free zone, a controversial move that has been opposed by bus operators. It is almost six months since Newcastle City Council agreed to press ahead with the transformation and allow transport bosses to set in motion a public inquiry on it, with a government inspector ultimately having to decide whether or not the project can go ahead.
But the future of the proposals has been thrown into further doubt by a change in leadership at the council, with long-serving Nick Forbes having been ousted earlier this year and new city Labour leader Nick Kemp having overhauled the local authority’s cabinet. A council spokesperson confirmed that the inquiry is still yet to be triggered, while the new administration’s vision for the city centre is now set to be unveiled in October.
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Coun Jane Byrne, the council’s cabinet member for transport, said: “We want Newcastle to be a great place to work, visit and live in and will be setting out our ambitions for transport in and around the city centre in a report for discussion at cabinet next month [October].
"As part of this we are reviewing existing plans to ensure they remain on track to meet our ambitions, in particular our environmental targets for Net Zero, improved air quality and increased biodiversity. The report will also reflect the work we are doing to develop the city centre economy so that it provides opportunities for local people and supports businesses to develop and grow.”
Pedestrianising Blackett Street was a long-held ambition of the Forbes administration and formed a key part of £50m plans to create a cleaner and greener city centre – as had doing the same on Grey Street, though Coun Kemp has criticised those plans as “confused” and called for a rethink.
The street has been shut to traffic previously during popular summer events and for the city’s 2019 Christmas markets. While backers of the pedestrianisation have said it would better promote walking and cycling in Newcastle, there have been fears about potential congestion caused by pushing buses onto a new loop around the city centre and making access harder for elderly and disabled people.
Bus company Stagecoach, the main objector to the closure and whose opposition means a public inquiry is required, had claimed to have lost 120,000 passengers when Blackett Street was previously closed during the 2019 Christmas markets. 700 people responded to an online council survey about the plans – with 287 objecting, 276 in support, and 137 undecided.
Coun Thom Campion, transport spokesman for the council’s Lib Dem opposition, accused Labour of being “unable to make the decisions they need to get our city moving”. He added: “The new delay does nothing to reassure the thousands of residents across our city who rely on the buses through Blackett Street and leaves the city’s largest bus operator in a lurch at a time when we’re becoming more and more reliant on public transport.
“Residents deserve to know what’s going on. It’s time the cabinet got on with the public inquiry and let the residents of Newcastle have their say finally."
Coun Kemp previously indicated to the Local Democracy Reporting Service in April that he was not opposed to the Blackett Street plans, but that bus passengers needed reassurances that there will be “sensible alternatives that are as easy and accessible and usable as what they currently have”. Proposed mitigation measures to deal with objectors’ worries have included the building of a new bus station on the eastern side of the city centre, the running of an accessible ‘hopper’ electric vehicle service to transport people around the city centre, and the creation of extra footpath and bus passenger waiting areas in Grainger Street.
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