Newcastle’s key business leaders have voiced their opinions on the recent announcement from new head of Newcastle City Council, Nick Kemp, to review of plans to pedestrianise Grey Street.
It has recently been revealed that Newcastle Council Leader Nick Kemp is planning a revisit the proposed pedestrianisation of Newcastle’s most iconic street, as part of a promised reset at the civic centre – admitting that the changes “don’t add to the attractiveness of the street.”
A series of temporary measures were installed to take space away from vehicles and to allow more room for pedestrians, cyclists, and pavement cafes in a bid to allegedly promote ‘café culture’ in the city. The initial plans were to create the total pedestrianisation, the centrepiece of a £50m transformation of the city centre.
The new head of the council has announced his intentions to review the “confused” redesign of the city’s most beautiful street following major changes to area in recent years. Councillor Kemp recently told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “It has historically, until very recently, always been recognised as one of the most beautiful and attractive streets in Britain. Sadly, you could not say that now.
“I would like a review of Grey Street. Whatever we do needs to be something that adds intrinsically to the value of Grey Street.” Newcastle’s business leaders have spoken exclusively to Portfolio North on their thoughts towards the announcement;
Neil Hart, group managing director of Bradley Hall Chartered Surveyors and Estate Agents commented; “The announcements for reviews to Grey Street will be extremely welcomed by business owners and operators in Newcastle City Centre as improvements certainly need to be made. The changes made within the last couple of years have created a thoughtless, poorly executed half-job leaving one of our city centre’s most iconic and important streets as a shambles.
“It has been a topic of conversation and frustration for many and we all have our views. My opinion is that one way traffic seems to have worked and widening the pavements is fine, but side by side car parking needs to be reinstalled on the east side of Grey Street. This will satisfy most people which use grey street and surrounding areas for business, retail, leisure and pedestrians whilst also maintaining a valuable revenue stream for Newcastle City Council.”
Ollie Vaulkhard of Vaulkhard Group, operators of multiple hospitality venues across the North East including Bar Luga and Blake’s on Grey Street, said: “Described as the jewel in the crown of our city, an architectural gem and more recently a poorly delivered eyesore.
“Best intentions and covid reactions along with some funding from central government led to a knee jerk semi pedestrianisation of this wonderful street in 2020 and since then we have seen the pretty pictures of the new scheme develop, but the physical environment has deteriorated.
“Bent and rusty posts, patched tarmac, chaos as delivery vehicles clash with buses and the poor private motorist is left in no-man’s land. This is the reality of Grey Street in 2022. It’s certainly not the continental style dream that was originally sold to us and envisaged by those making the decisions for change.
“Getting this great street right for all users will never be an easy task. But to make changes surely problems must be identified and ways to make them better found. Don’t follow a pre-determined path and confirmation bias. I would personally argue that it worked well in 2019, others would disagree but I suspect few would support the current state of affairs, where we have pleased no one and detracted from all.
“I welcome the chance for this to be revisited and hope that our generation can evolve this glorious street into something that will be loved in decades to come.”
Stephen Patterson, chief executive at NE1 said; “Through extensive consultation with businesses and the city council, there is a strong and clear consensus that the current streetscape is woefully inadequate and does nothing to compliment or celebrate the world-class architecture. Whilst there is a diversity of opinion, most notably on the controversial issue of parking, it’s fair to say the vast majority of businesses want to see a vision for the street that reflects the iconic architecture, and the place Grey Street will have in the city five years from now and beyond.
“15,000 additional workers housed within the Pilgrim Street development and over £850m of investment in the Quayside underline the importance of getting this right. Grey Street is world-class, it is right that we celebrate it as a jewel in the city’s crown, and it deserves a world-class streetscape. I hope that the city seizes this moment to deliver a street we can all be proud of, and one that stands the test of time.”
Neil McMillan, Developing Consensus member and managing director of iMpeC Developments commented; “A re-think is welcome on Grey Street, but the plan must deliver an attractive high quality environment for visitors while crucially providing the appropriate access and functionality that the businesses on Grey Street need. The speed of implementation of the revised plans is also critical. I believe strongly that our region should lead the way in making the right decisions and then implementing them quickly, that is what our businesses need to give them confidence in their own investment planning.”
Andrew Wilson, managing partner at UNW, a professional services firm based in Newcastle City Centre which employs in the region of 150 people, said; “Grey Street is critical to Newcastle City Centre in many different respects therefore reviewing the plans to ensure they are most likely to result in the best possible outcome has to be a good thing.
“Broad consideration of the impact the changes will have on city centre accessibility and parking needs to be taken into account not just in the context of the leisure and retail outlets in this part of the city but also in relation to the broader business community. Making it an attractive area for the night time economy and for tourists is clearly important, but the importance to the city of everyday users should not be over looked. Offices need to be accessible with relative ease otherwise businesses will leave the city centre and that will have a detrimental impact all around.”
