North Tyneside Council has abandoned its plan for a safe cycle route linking North Shields town centre with John Spence High School and the A1058 Beach Road cycle route.
The Preston Road cycle path, abandoned by North Tyneside Council this week, was part of a number of schemes proposed in 2021, to be funded in this case by the Department for Transport’s Transforming Cities Funds.
At the time, the council underlined how the route would “provide a safe link for cyclists, including schoolchildren, between the town centre and A1058 Coast Road”, whilst also tying “into wider regeneration plans for North Shields, and support[ing] the local authority’s ambition to work towards the borough being carbon net-zero by 2030”.
This scheme was consulted on in 2021; we had some concerns with the plans, but had a number of conversations with key councillors and council officers and were reassured that construction would begin in spring/summer 2022.
Since then, the plans have been adjusted and put back to consultation, leading to confirmation that construction would start in spring 2023, and then summer 2024. A handful of vocal objectors spoke out just last year, encouraged by some local Conservatives, and now – despite continuing promises that this scheme would be implemented despite delays – more than three years after it was planned, it’s been abandoned by the council.
The critical importance of this route for schoolchildren and their safety is clear – hundreds of children cycle to John Spence, and still more cycle to Marden High School and St Thomas More School by linking to the Beach Road cycle path. At the moment, many of these young cyclists are forced to cycle on the pavement, since the road isn’t safe – but cycling on the pavement forces them into conflict with pedestrians, including young children also on their way to school, dog walkers, and older adults.
Imagine how many more young cyclists could be enabled to get to school in active and environmentally-friendly ways if they had a safe route! And not just to school, but also to clubs and activities, to friends’ houses, to the coast and so much more. Not only would this reap enormous personal benefits for these young people, but also important social, health, and environmental benefits for us all, now and in the future.
And, of course, it would reduce school run congestion by enabling more students to get to school without lifts from their parents, making Preston Road not only safer but quieter and less congested.
Preston Road is also a route prioritised in the council’s most recent Cycling Strategy and Local Cyling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP), with an eventual plan to connect to a route up to Rake Lane and Monkseaton. This route would enable people – staff and patients – to get safely to Rake Lane, others to travel on to Cobalt for work, and link up several new and existing residential neighbourhoods with supermarkets, town centres and leisure facilities.
The route features clearly in the North Shields Masterplan, as a safe cycling route enabling residents to cycle to and from North Shields and the other local centres, supporting the town centre’s regeneration and improving access to the new Transport Hub and the metro station. The masterplan also featured a cycle route to Tynemouth, promising safe access to both the village tself and the start of the Seafront Sustainable Route – and we now have additional concerns about the status of these plans.
Preston Road is a dangerous road for cycling, for schoolchildren and for adults. The map extract below, from the NTClosePass website, shows the high number of traffic offences, prosecuted by Northumbria Police, where a cyclist was endangered by a driver. This data is crowdsourced, and therefore only represents a small portion of the actual incidents on this stretch, but highlights how valuable safety measures on this route would be.
Feedback from local residents who cycle along and around Preston Road underlines these risks:
Very dangerous section this, lots of pinch points and people drive too fast as the road is quite wide in sections. Particularly concerning with a school there. I saw a cyclist get taken out on one of the mini roundabouts a year or so ago.
I’ve felt extremely vulnerable cycling on that road many times. Makes me not want to cycle
I’m not very confident on my bike so would never cycle that way as it is
The vast majority of people we see cycling on and around Preston Rd are kids going to/from school or the town centre, adults in work clothes or with shopping, often on cheap bikes, and families with kids going to school/nursery. It’s these people who will be endangered by this decision.
Our key questions to North Tyneside Council are:
- On what grounds were the plans for this route abandoned?
- How does withdrawing this route fit with the council’s commitments to its Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan and the North Shields Masterplan?
- How does the council now intend to commit to ensuring hundreds of local schoolchildren have safe routes to school?
- How does the withdrawal impact the council’s commitment to net zero by 2030?
- How will this decision impact financially on the council, now (will funding allocated to this scheme be clawed back) and in the future (will the failure to deliver this scheme affect the council’s ability to secure future funding)?
- What the council’s intention now is in relation to the planned Tynemouth Road cycle route?
- How the council expects cyclists to safely get to and from North Shields, and to our local centres and the Seafront Sustainable Route?
What you can do?
If you’re as disappointed as we are, about the cancellation of this vital scheme, or how it jeopardises other local cycling and walking infrastructure plans, we’d encourage you to reach out to your local councillors today. Tell them how important these schemes are to you, how they enable you to travel more safely and actively around the borough – or how the lack of adequate infrastructure currently limits your ability to do this. Make sure that they hear that residents are actively requesting these investments, a joined-up network of safe cycle routes that allow you to travel for work, leisure and shopping, that allow you to cycle as a family or even to enable children to cycle independently.
Please do also copy in our mayor, Norma Redfearn (norma.redfearn@northtyneside.gov.uk), Cabinet Member for Environment, Councillor Hannah Johnson (Hannah.johnson@northtyneside.gov.uk), cycling champion Councillor Sandra Graham (Sandra.Graham@northtyneside.gov.uk) and regional mayor, Kim McGuinness (mayorsoffice@northeast-ca.gov.uk).
Be vocal on social media, tag your local councillors, local political parties, and North Tyneside Council itself. Interact with consultations or updates the council publishes so that your voice isn’t drowned out by those who oppose the changes.