Public get say on Blue House plans
PROPOSALS UNVEILED TO LOCALS WITH MIXED REACTION
TWO new proposals for the future of the Blue House Roundabout have been presented to residents at a public meeting.
Newcastle City Council first proposed major changes to the accident blackspot in Gosforth in 2016.
But the original proposals, which included a “mega-roundabout” built on Town Moor land, came under heavy criticism.
The plans were finally abandoned after around 2,000 people attended a protest rally and tied ribbons to trees which faced the chop.
Now two new recommendations from the Blue House Working Group have been presented to around 200 Gosforth and Jesmond residents at a public meeting at Newcastle School for Boys yesterday night.
John Dales, transport planner and chair of the Blue House Working Group, said that “phase one” of the scheme would see the roundabout “tightened up” to have two lanes of circulating traffic round the roundabout, rather than three.
The working group says this would improve road safety as motorists would have fewer lanes of traffic to look across.
The second design is to enlarge the roundabout, but this would mean losing the landmark Blue House itself. The recommendations propose that if the junction does need to made bigger in the future, the empty Blue House building could be demolished to make room and minimise land taken from the Town Moor. Mr Dales said: “The concern about the first design is it would mean less road traffic capacity.” He added that the second design would make the design of the junction more “rational” by removing the Blue House and some of the trees. Changes have also been proposed for Jesmond Dene Road as far as the junction with Matthew Bank. The proposed layout allows vehicles to make all turns at the Osborne Road junction, and includes a new signalised pedestrian crossing facility across the Osborne Road stretch.
The working group is also calling for the existing bus lanes on the Great North Road to be extended further towards the roundabout, but recognise that “this may cause some detriment to general traffic flow at peak periods”.
The group was formed from local councillors and representatives from residents associations and local transport groups.
Veronica Stonor from West Gosforth Residents Association, who is on the working group, said she had been “appalled and outraged” by what the council had initially proposed.
“I felt it was completely unnecessary and we have been working towards proposals that make as little change as possible.”
The recommendations will now be looked at by engineering teams before going back to the council.
The concern about the first design is it would mean less road traffic capacity John Dales