We are calling for a referendum on plans to build a super stadium on Newcastle’s oldest park.

According to Newcastle City Council, there has been no discussion with Newcastle United Football Club, The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, Urban Green Newcastle or the Freemen of Newcastle about plans for a new football stadium on Leazes Park. Yet the mainstream media is awash stories of how a new stadium will be ‘built on Leazes Park’.

Leazes Park – the people’s park - is the oldest park in Newcastle and has provided green space for people and wildlife for more than 150 years.

How can plans to pave over this historic park have progressed without the knowledge of Newcastle City Council – the local planning authority? And how have the people of Newcastle not been consulted on these plans?

In 1857, 3,000 working people of Newcastle petitioned Newcastle City Council for 'ready access to some open ground for the purpose of health and recreation’. In 1873, Leazes Park was opened for the people of Newcastle.

Since then, millions of pounds of tax payer’s money has been spent on making Leazes Park a green and pleasant place for the people and wildlife of Newcastle.

In more recent years, Leazes Park has hosted the Green Festival, the North East’s largest free environmental festival and has been cared for by the Friends of Leazes Park.

There are more than 1,000 trees in the park, as well as shrubs and hedgerows, which provide food and shelter for insects and other wildlife including, bats, birds and hedgehogs.

Sacrificing the city's oldest public park - accessible to all - for a Saudi super stadium - accessible to few - without public consultation is scandalous. 

If these plans were to be given the green light, it would set a dangerous precedent for parks and green spaces across the city, many of which are already struggling to make ends meet. 

In the 1990s, plans to move the football stadium into Leazes Park were shelved after vociferous local opposition.

The signatures of 3,000 working people of Newcastle upon Tyne on this petition will trigger a full City Council debate on whether this should be allowed.

Please sign and share to safeguard the city’s oldest park and urge decision makers to come to a democratic decision that will benefit football fans, as well as green spaces and wildlife.