Inquiry needed for Newcastle's Blackett Street pedestrianisation

Blackett Street is currently a busy route for buses

A planning inquiry will need to be held over plans to pedestrianise a busy city centre street following opposition from a bus firm.

Newcastle City Council wants to ban traffic from Blackett Street following trial closures in 2019.

Stagecoach said any closure would reduce access to the main shopping area for elderly and disabled people.

The council's cabinet is being asked to trigger a planning inquiry to settle the dispute.

Council officials had been hopeful of securing an arrangement to placate the bus companies and allow them to go ahead with the pedestrianisation plan without the need for an inquiry, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

But, since a public consultation closed in October, that has not happened, with an inquiry the next course of action.

Newcastle City Council wants to pedestrianise Blackett Street as depicted in this artist's impression

It is thought that it would take about five months for an inquiry to start and that the pedestrianisation, if approved, would not happen until 2023 at the earliest.

Pedestrianising the busy bus route, as well as New Bridge Street West and the northern section of Pilgrim Street, forms part of a £50m vision to make the city centre a cleaner, greener environment, the council said.

Backers of the plans, which have also been trialled during summer weekends, said it would create "more and better space for families", make the area safer and help promote walking and cycling.

Stagecoach has expressed "serious concerns" about the loss of access to the city centre for people who rely on bus travel and worries a new "bus loop" around the city centre would be unable to handle a major influx of extra bus services without causing gridlock.

Newcastle City Council said pedestrianising Blackett Street would make the city safer and greener

Some 287 objections were sent to the council while 276 people and organisations wrote in support.

The council added that, during the wait for an inquiry to start, it would "continue to work with objectors to try to resolve the issues raised".

Stagecoach North East managing director Steve Walker said: "We maintain that the proposals are not in the interests of our customers, and feel that they will have a detrimental impact on the city's recovery from the pandemic."