Newcastle upon Tyne is a great city both for living and working. It’s small enough that I can walk from my home in a northern suburb of Newcastle to my office, just east of the city centre. This is particularly pleasant on a sunny, spring morning and it’s good to start the , providing me with some much needed fresh air and exercise. It gives me the chance to think, but inevitably as I get closer to the office certain buildings and spaces en-route draw the mind to ‘business’, our business, that of town and country planning.
I muse on how my walk may change in the coming months and years;
• I walk through an area full of student flats; the streets are quiet with only the occasional rumble of the Metro railway. From my totally unscientific ad hoc survey, the “For Sale” signs seem to be increasing. Are the students moving to the fancy purpose-built apartments closer to the universities? How will the area change if the nature of the population changes; incoming young professionals, families or neglect of a once popular area. And how would that change affect the local services needed?
• I pass a primary school, still too early for children to arrive and very few cars around. How different this is just 15 – 30 minutes later. There is such a pressure on the road network close to schools as parents drop off children on their way to work.
• A new school is under construction just around the corner, a senior school with several hundred students. A travel plan for staff, students and parents will have been an important part of the planning application; vital to protect the environment and character of this part of the city.
• Closer to the office and we know that there are plans to change the road system and the access to the central motorway. There will be “public consultation” on options put forward by Newcastle City Council. My personal wish is that it will be quicker and easier to cross the flow of traffic and escape the traffic fumes.
• Nearly there and this part of the city is becoming student land. There is a seemingly endless line of developers coming forward with proposals for new student accommodation. Can the number of students justify the scale of the development? Should there be a requirement that these developments are designed to be easily amended for families if the student market contracts?
• Time for coffee
Why not try to walk to your office?