Plans to ban all traffic from one of Newcastle city centre’s busiest streets have been shelved.
It has been confirmed that a huge transformation of Blackett Street, which would have seen the bus route pedestrianised, has been put on ice. The proposals have been in the works for years and were a key aim of Newcastle City Council under its previous Nick Forbes-led administration, but have now been kicked into the long grass after a power shift within the city’s Labour Party earlier this year that saw Nick Kemp take over at the civic centre.
A document set to be presented to the local authority’s cabinet next week reveals that the Blackett Street plans will be “deferred until such time as it can be fully funded and brought forward as part of a comprehensive package of measures to promote a connected, clean city”. It adds that “the political ambition to implement a central pedestrianised zone with pocket parks and green spaces that makes the city more family and child friendly is still held”, but will be rolled into a “revised, ambitious offer” that also includes a raft of upgrades to Newcastle’s bus and cycling infrastructure.
