There are plans for Grey Street to go greener.
In the 1960s, Newcastle City Council leader T. Dan Smith planned for the city to become the Brasilia of the North, dominated by the automobile. An urban freeway—the Central Motorway—was cut through the beautiful city, with soil from the workings piled up on the green lung of the Town Moor. Citizens were told the spoil would be made into a ski slope.
But Smith’s promise of a “city free and beautiful” fell short: the ski slope never materialized (it was grassed over), a bunch of adjoining freeways never got built, and he was jailed for conspiracy and corruption.
Smith’s hopes for Newcastle to become a car city is now seen by some to have been more of a nightmare than a dream, and, over the last 20 or so years, automobiles have been steadily removed by design from much of the central business district.
Northumberland Street—which, in the new plan, will be further enhanced with greenery—is Newcastle’s main shopping street, pedestrianized in the 1990s. Before this, it was the busy A1 Great North Road between London and Edinburgh.
The next stage of the car’s removal from the city has been unveiled today by Newcastle City Council as it announced it would spend £50 million transforming the city center creating a “safer, more appealing and healthier green city with outdoor spaces and activities that people and their families can enjoy together.”
T. Dan Smith, seen here in 1973. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Enjoy in cars? Not so much.
Motor vehicles—most especially buses—will be entirely removed from Blackett Street in the heart of Newcastle, making a traffic-free plaza out of the space surrounding the central column of Grey’s Monument, one of the city’s historical focal points.
In time—and with hoped-for additional funding—the plan is to fully pedestrianize Grey Street, which renowned architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner once called the “finest street in England.”
Earl Grey Street or Grey Street, Grainger Town, Newcastle upon Tyne, England in the 19th century. ... [+]
Grey Street was built in the 1830s and runs downhill from the 130-ft monument erected to celebrate the Northumbrian-born Prime Minister Earl Grey, who, with the 1832 Reform Act, kick-started Britain’s modern democracy.
Newcastle City Council has secured over £20 million to begin transforming city streets this summer, with the additional £30 million secured through a mix of grant funding and private investment. £10.5 million came from the Department for Transport’s Active Travel Fund as well as the U.K. government’s Getting Building Fund delivered through the North East LEP (Local Enterprise Partnership).
Nick Forbes, leader of Newcastle City Council. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
“City centers are changing, and they must adapt to survive as now more people are shopping online, and climate change has increased the urgency for cleaner, greener spaces,” said today’s leader of the council Nick Forbes.
He added that residents and visitors want “pleasant open spaces to meet and socialize; a more diverse range of shops; safer streets that are free of traffic where people can walk freely, and attractions that offer families lots of things to do that are fun and educational.”
Newcastle's Ridley Place will become what the council calls a "pedestrian destination" with parklets ... [+]
Driving into some parts of Newcastle city center is still possible, but it has been designed to be neither easy nor practical. With today’s announcements, that discomfort will increase, with even more of the city off-limits to cars and handed back to pedestrians.
