Newcastle's Grey Street revamp 'confusing' - council leader

The former administration wanted traffic to be permanently removed from Grey Street

The new leader of a city council has pledged a "rethink" on a "confusing" revamp of a major street.

Grey Street in Newcastle was redesigned during the pandemic which included the removal of parking spaces to allow for pavement cafes and cycle lanes.

However, Nick Kemp, the city's Labour council leader, said the landmark street was no longer "attractive".

He also said he would reappraise the wholesale pedestrianisation of the route because of problems with access.

Nick Kemp was previously responsible for the council's bin collection and trading standards

Mr Kemp, who recently replaced Nick Forbes, has previously spoken against the changes to the Georgian street, including laying temporary pavements and installing a long row of bollards.

Removing all traffic from Grey Street was a long-standing aim of previous leader Mr Forbes as part of a £50m transformation of the city centre.

Byker councillor Mr Kemp, who was previously responsible for bin collections and trading standards, 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 need to have a better understanding of what the purpose was of the interventions that happened - I appreciate they are temporary, but they don't add to the attractiveness of the street."

Mr Kemp believes removing all traffic from the street will cause access problems

He added that expanding pavement cafes during the coronavirus pandemic had made negotiating the route more difficult for people with buggies and wheelchair users.

"There needs to be an understanding of how we want Grey Street to work for the city. At the moment it feels confused," Mr Kemp said.

"The finish point should be that what we are trying to achieve from a pedestrian Grey Street?

"Have we thought through effectively how the businesses will operate and be serviced, how people will travel from one part of the city to another?" Mr Kemp said.