The war of words over divisive road closures in Jesmond rages on ahead of a ballot box showdown on Thursday.
Controversy over the Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) installed by Newcastle City Council last month has become a focal point of this week’s local elections – with the city’s ruling Labour Party facing a battle to hold onto seats in what was already a hotly-contested area. Protesters furious at the “gridlock” they say the LTN has created on surrounding streets since early March staged another demonstration against the project on Wednesday, however a group of North East doctors has urged politicians to stick with the trial scheme.
City council leader Nick Kemp has pledged that consultation with Jesmond residents over the future of the contentious LTN will be “meaningful”, and told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that local authority bosses “don’t claim to know what’s right”. The LTN has resulted in bollards being installed on a number of residential streets to stop motorists using them to cut between Osborne Road and the Cradlewell, with public consultation on the changes taking place until September.
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Fans of the experiment say it has made the affected streets cleaner and safer, but opponents claim it has effectively cut Jesmond in two and resulted in huge congestion on the surrounding main roads. Jenny Benn, of the One Jesmond campaign group, was among dozens of people who joined Wednesday evening’s protest.
The 64-year-old said: “The majority of our group cycle or walk, they would absolutely prefer less traffic – but not the way this has been done. We are not hoaxers, we are not deniers – we believe in the climate emergency.
The reason people are so angry is that this was done without consultation, it was imposed in the middle of the night. It has divided the community with no thought and caused gridlock on two roads [Osborne Road and Jesmond Road]. Businesses are really suffering, it is affecting people going to swimming lessons, parents are arriving frazzled and late for their children at school and nursery.”
Speaking ahead of Thursday’s local elections, at which he is seeking re-election in Byker, Coun Kemp the city council “is listening and we need to understand what the impact [of the LTN] is”. He added: “The pilot does not have to run for six months. We need to be constantly monitoring this.
“There are a number of voices, but let’s look on a balanced view about what evidence and data is created. What we have also seen is some very sensible suggestions and [let’s look] at how they might be implemented.
“I know there are a number of people in Jesmond who say we are not listening and I understand that – but we are.”
There are two council seats up for grabs in the North Jesmond ward on polling day – the Lib Dems are defending one, but will hope to steal the second from Labour after it was vacated recently by the resignation of Stella Postlethwaite. One of the council’s Labour cabinet members, Lesley Storey, is defending her seat in South Jesmond, though that has traditionally been much safer Labour territory than the neighbouring swing ward.
Meanwhile, a group of child health professionals have penned an open letter to local election candidates saying they are “seriously concerned” about the local opposition to the LTN scheme – and calling for the scheme to be continued in the name of cutting air pollution and the health problems it causes.
The Ride For Their Lives group, which includes practising and retired medics from Newcastle and Northumberland, wrote: “Means of limiting car traffic are few and some, such as increasing road tax, putting up petrol prices and congestion charging are both unpopular and will require central government action. Evidence from other LTNs round the country show that their popularity increases with time and that there is not increased congestion on the borders of the scheme.
“It is also worth emphasising that no resident is prevented from driving to their house in an LTN, though the journey may take a little longer – usually not more than ten minutes. Surely this is a small price to pay for the proven benefits to our children’s health and wellbeing.
"The current scheme is being run on an experimental basis and consultation is ongoing during the first six months. We health professionals call on the council and all prospective councillors to continue with this essential scheme and on residents to consider the wider long term benefits."
Labour councillors in the area recently came out in favour of replacing the bollards with traffic cameras that would allow local residents unrestricted access to their streets, while forcing through traffic to stick to the main routes.
Promising that the council will listen to the wide array of local opinions on the LTN, Coun Kemp added: “If this was something we were going to impose because we were restricted in what we could do, then don’t call it a consultation. Consultation, to me, means the opportunity to affect something and I am clear that people in their neighbourhood know their neighbourhood better than me and better than the council.”
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