As Newcastle residents and businesses we object to the installation of the East Jesmond Low Traffic Neighbourhood scheme (“LTN”).

Our objection is that:

Since the installation of the East Jesmond LTN, there has been a substantial increase in traffic congestion, in particular on Jesmond Road and Osborne Road. This congestion is disrupting the lives and livelihoods of people and businesses across the city. 

Newcastle City Council failed to conduct an adequate public consultation prior to the installation of the East Jesmond LTN. They failed to engage and consult with a representative cross section of residents and businesses within the East Jesmond LTN boundary. They failed to engage with residents, businesss and other stake holders on the periphery of the scheme and other affected organisations across the city.

The initial scheme was poorly designed and implemented and caused chaos. In an attempt to mitigate the disruption their scheme caused, The Council resorted to invoking an Emergency Traffic Order so they could dump concrete barricades onto Jesmond Dene Road in the middle of the night. This was unsuccessful and resulted in diverting yet more traffic onto the boundary roads, turning residents lives upside down and causing misery for commuters from across the city.

Access for the Police, Fire and Ambulance services to Jesmond has been impeded, putting lives at risk.

The viability of local businesses, many of which rely on passing trade, has been compromised, putting jobs at risk.

Pollution and emissions have increased on the boundary roads to the LTN putting the health and wellbeing of residents on those roads at risk.

The LTN is ageist and discriminatory against vulnerable groups who are not able to walk or cycle, and rely on their cars or taxis to get out and about.

While we acknowledge that there may have been a marginal improvement to the amenity for cyclists and pedestrians within the scheme boundary, we believe that the East Jesmond LTN is failing to deliver any net benefit to Newcastle.

Instead, the East Jesmond LTN is disrupting lives and damaging livelihoods and businesses.



This has to stop.

Whilst we support the principle of improving the environment and encouraging people to lead more active lifestyles, we believe that The Council must seek to engage across the wider community in the design of any further schemes to make sure the the scheme delivers benefits to the city as a whole, and not just to specific campaign groups.

What we want Newcastle City Council to do:

We demand that The Council removes the East Jesmond LTN.

We demand that prior to implementing any and all future Low Traffic Neighbourhood, Active Travel, Traffic Calming or Clean-Air-Zone schemes, The Council commits to making public, detailed plans of the works to be carried out, the objectives of the scheme and how the success of the scheme will be assessed and measured, along with the result of an Equalities Impact Assessment Study.

We demand that The Council commits to conducting a thorough, transparent and unbiased public consultation on their plans prior to the implementation of the proposed scheme.



The consultation should engage with a representative cross section of residents and businesses within the boundary of the proposed scheme as well as residents, businesss and other stake holders on the scheme periphery along with other affected organisations across the city. The Council should follow the statutory guidance on active travel where necessary and in particular ensure that engagement should use objective methods, such as professional polling to British Polling Council standards, to establish a truly representative picture of local views and to ensure that minority views do not dominate the discourse.

We demand that after the completion of the consultation, and before any decision is made to go ahead with a scheme The Council will make public, the results of the consultation, including clear statistical information on the level of public support and opposition to the proposed scheme.

We demand that after the implementation of a scheme, The Council will provide an opportunity for individuals and businesses to provide feedback and voice their opinions. The results of the feedback will be public and transparent. The Council will commit to adjust or remove the scheme if the majority of residents, businesss and other stake holders are opposed to it.

Note: 

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Feel free to add a comment describing how the LTN is affecting you and why you oppose it.

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