Feasibility Study for the Industrial Area - Part 1 (PDF 5 MB)

each other whilst negotiating the junction.
Additionally, road humps have been implemented along the roads
surrounding the adjacent residential area - on Oil Mill Road,
Abingdon Road, and Woodside Avenue.
Parking
Much of the study area has unrestricted parking and what
restrictions are in place are generally poorly signed with faded
road markings, indicating a need for a review of the parking
arrangements in the area. There is ‘no waiting at any time’
restrictions along both sides of Bath Street. There is also no
waiting, Monday to Friday, 8am-6:30pm along much of Fisher
Street.
Significant on-street parking demand was only observed at White
Street, on both sides of the road between Mitchell Street and
Mary’s Place, and to a lesser extent on Station Road. Also, the
public car park off Abingdon Road was observed to be well used.
Many of the businesses within the study area currently have only
limited space for parking within their premises.
6.3.2Public transport and cycle provision
The study area is currently relatively well served by public
transport ( see Figure 6.2) with high frequency services running
along Walker Road/Station Road and White Street/Fisher Street
that link the area to metro stations and the city centre. However,
no services cover the area south of White Street, leaving the
southern extreme of the study area around one kilometre from
the nearest bus stop.
Along White Street/Fisher Street, Superoute 12 offers four
services an hour during the day and hourly services in the
evening between Wallsend metro station and Two Ball Lonnen,
via the city centre and Byker metro station. There is also an
hourly daytime service between Wallsend and Central Station
along this route.
north-south through the study area along the alignment of a
dismantled railway. This is a long-distance, coast to coast cycle
route, connecting the area with Newcastle city centre and
beyond. Within the study area the route has wide, tarmac
surfacing in good condition and is mostly lit. The route crosses
Malaya Drive, Welbeck Road, and Neptune Road at-grade. At
Neptune Road a toucan crossing is provided, with tactile paving
and guard-rail. Similar facilities have been removed from Malaya
Drive and Welbeck Road due to vandalism, with only the tactile
paving and associated road markings remaining.
The cycle route is accessible from a limited number of points
only. From Malaya Drive, Welbeck Road it can be accessed atgrade
via gradual, sloping paths, while at White Street it is
accessed via steep steps. We understand that the route is well
used by both leisure and commuter cyclists.
6.3.3Accidents
Accident data for the three-year period to 2004 have been
obtained from the Tyne and Wear Traffic and Accident Data Unit.
This indicated that there were a total of 11 accidents within the
study area, none of which involved HGVs (although one record
implicated a HGV as part of the cause of the accident).
There was one fatal accident within the study area, at the
junction of Bath Street and White Street, involving a police car in
pursuit of another vehicle. A cluster of three serious accidents
and one slight accident occurred at the junction of Malaya Drive
and Station Road. Also, there were two slight accidents at the
junction of Bath Street/Welbeck Road, and one slight accident at
the junction of White Street/Wincomblee Road.
‘Superoute’ is a network of high quality bus services across the
Tyne and Wear region, offering frequent, high quality services with
modern buses, shelters and road improvements. Bus stops
within the study area generally have a bus flag and timetable
information only, with only some having shelters and none having
kassel kerbing, despite being on ‘Superoutes’. Further, none of
the stops have real-time information provision.
An additional four services per hour run along Station Road/
Walker Road, all serving the city centre. 12 services an hour run
along Bath Street (including Superoute 40) between Walker bus
station or Wallsend metro station and Chapel House, via the city
centre and Byker metro station. Waverdale Avenue, has six
services an hour, served by Superoute 40.
There are no railway lines in the vicinity of the site. However, the
St James-Whitley Bay metro line runs to the north of the area,
with Wallsend Station (which also serves as a bus interchange)
located some 700 metres from the northern extreme of the study
area. The line offers a 12 minute daytime service frequency
Mondays to Fridays (10 minute on Saturdays) to the city centre.
Route 72 (‘Hadrian’s Way’) of the National Cycle Network runs
Fisher Street spine
34 Colin Buchanan