North Tyneside council draws up plans to create more space for residents and businesses

North Tyneside Council has outlined plans to ensure people can move around the borough safely and support businesses to be able to reopen.

Part of its ‘Ambition for North Tyneside’, the council has set out a vision to create vibrant, attractive town and district centres where people want to spend their time.

As part of this effort, the council is proposing to create more space in town centres and shopping areas and along the coast such as the following:

• Making the southbound section of the road along the coast between Whitley Bay and Tynemouth a two-way cycle route to allow the promenade and footpaths to be used solely by pedestrians.
• Creating more space for pedestrians along busy town centre streets like Park View in Whitley Bay, High Street West in Wallsend, Nile Street in North Shields and Front Street, Tynemouth.
• Identifying ‘pop-up’ cycle routes to link the coastal strip plans to nearby town and district centres and provide direct access to employment areas where public transport capacity is reduced.

Councillor Carl Johnson, cabinet member for environment and transport, said: “The pandemic has undoubtedly presented a number of new challenges for all of us and it is vital that we, as a local authority, respond quickly and appropriately.

“We have seen a huge increase in cycling and walking across the borough since lockdown began, which is really positive to see.

“The measures we are looking to introduce to create more safe space for people to cycle and walk, while enabling businesses to safely reopen, have been driven by what residents and businesses have told us they want to see happen.

“We understand there is a balance to be struck in terms of reallocating space and the impact that has on businesses and being able to ensure social distancing so that people can move around safely.

“The safety of our residents and visitors has to be our number one priority and we need to do this now to support the recovery of the borough.

“This also gives us a great opportunity to enable residents to move around the borough using sustainable forms of travel safely.”

The council is working with businesses to support them to reopen through the ‘Restarting Business in North Tyneside’ campaign in partnership with the North Tyneside Business Forum.

It will monitor the impact of the measures and review them as needed. Any residents directly affected will be contacted by the council.

For more information about the changes, visit https://my.northtyneside.gov.uk/page/26541/walking-and-cycling