Thankyou for consulting residents, the school and ward members in respect of the above scheme, I will be encouraging responses before May 18th.
I welcome the scheme and am keen to see it built as soon as possible this year. As detailed designs are developed and finalised I would be grateful if the following elements could be added and included:
1/ Physical traffic calming (humps / table) on Manor Road itself. Manor Road suffers from an evening and overnight speed problem which has resulted in two recent collisions. 20% of vehicles in the evening are exceeding 30mph, let alone 20mph, there seems to be no prospect of the police addressing this. A recent fatality at the other end of our ward has bought home the consequences of antisocial driving and excessive speed in the evenings. This scheme is funded via the Active Travel Fund and as such should form part of a joined up network of consistently safe streets, failing to address these evening speeds creates a situation where the approaches to the junction are not what they should be. Although I appreciate that a “signs and lines” speed reduction scheme is being worked on, given we will have contractors on site it would seem wrong to not at the same time carry out necessary works on Manor Road itself. This street formed part of my own children’s route to Kings Priory School and whilst the project delivers a huge improvement at the junction the speed of vehicles on the main carriageway is still a significant to concern to parents as well as residents.
2/ Planting & Landscaping. I’m appreciative of the change to the scheme that has been made to bring the new kerb alignment of the end of Tynemouth Green into the same position as the historic C18th Green. There may well be other opportunities to reflect the history of the location in the design and I’d request that a landscape architect leads on finalising these aspects of design rather than a highway engineer. In 2003 the Council developed a design for the top of Tynemouth Green using a semicircle of five trees arranged surrounding the Boer War Memorial. I have submitted a separate tree request form asking for these to be allocated based on the attached plan, however I’d stress that the best result in design of the landscaping would be achieved by using someone with the appropriate skillset.
3/ School Streets on St Oswins Place and Huntingdon Place, our original request for this scheme came as part of a discussion on introducing these and they remain urgent and necessary alongside measures to prevent footway parking on Manor Road. Development and construction of this scheme is a superb opportunity to pick up discussions with the school, this should happen without delay.
In 2024 the majority of Tynemouth and Cullercoats Cllrs agreed a set of shared objectives with Marden High which were subsequently endorsed by John Spence and also shown to Kings Priory.
“Pupils will experience a secure, safe, enjoyable, respectful environment travelling to & arriving at the school. The experience will contribute positively to safeguarding pupils’ health & emotional wellbeing. The school community will feel a sense of pride and belonging in their neighbourhood. School travel will operate in a way that minimises impact on the school’s neighbours and the local environment.
Results:
1/ Pupils themselves will get the chance to influence the council’s infrastructure plans and shape future investment in key routes and crossings they use travelling to and from school.
2/ Councillors will work to find the resources and investment to implement both quick wins and long-term changes which contribute to our shared objective.
3/ Councillors and the school will work together to reduce the impact of traffic close to the school gates.
4/ School and council staff will work collaboratively to solve problems and maximise the impact of their combined efforts”
On balance I feel the scheme is in line with these objectives and will contribute to delivering a more respectful environment arriving at School. In future more could be done to engage with pupils, residents and also with Ward Councillors at the outset of scheme development and design to ensure that shared objectives are considered and addressed. Opportunities exist for school and council staff to work collaboratively as this project moves forward and I would strongly encourage everyone to do this.
Across our borough I would like to see highway schemes developed which both improve the lives of children and residents and respect and enhance the place and location where they are built. This is one of the better projects I’ve seen come forward and is more in line with a place based approach than many others, so well done to all involved.
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