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A Fairer City
Introduction
Newcastle Labour Group is the collection of Labour Councillors elected to Newcastle City Council. Together we form the Opposition (the Lib Dems are in control of the City Council). None of us are professional politicians – we come from all walks of life and are all, in different ways, active in various communities across the city.
What brings us together as Labour Councillors, and motivates us to get involved in local politics, is a drive to improve Newcastle for the people that live and work here. We are particularly concerned that Newcastle, despite massive public investment in recent years, is in many respects an unfair city. People have different chances and opportunities in life simply because of where they live; we believe the City Council could do a lot more to tackle these inequalities.
A 21st Century city should be an exciting, diverse place full of possibilities for all of its people. We are driven by a belief that Newcastle should be known as a world-class city for its quality of life, its safety and health, culture, arts and learning, its employment opportunities, its architecture and its open spaces. But a city is made up of its people.
In Newcastle, the gifts made possible by a city are spread unevenly and social divisions
are getting wider. We believe that the City Council has a primary role in challenging inequality and social injustice.
In particular, Newcastle Labour is committed to:
• Fairness and greater equality, and the community-by-community promotion of social justice;
• Collective action to ensure social and economic progress is delivered by and on behalf of the whole community;
• Continuous economic development as a means of creating sustainable and prosperous communities;
• Local accountability (through active councillors in each ward we represent) as a building block for an engaged and vibrant political system.
We have been working on a range of polices and ideas to implement these values when (with your help) we win control of the council. They are intended to make Newcastle a fairer place to live and work. This document sets out our policies and we are happy to meet with your group or organisation to discuss them further. We are committed to making Newcastle a fairer city – please join us in our campaign.
Cllr Nick Forbes
Leader of the Labour Group
Newcastle - a fairer place to live
Despite Newcastle being a relatively small city geographically, life chances are markedly different
depending where in the city you live. The way in which the council both plans and delivers public
services has a huge impact on these life chances.
It currently adopts a “one size fits all” approach, with resources distributed equally across all areas with millions of pounds held in reserve rather than being invested in our city. However, we think this general policy needs to be changed. We are therefore suggesting a range of measures that will make Newcastle a fairer place to live. These are set out in the following section.
Decent Neighbourhoods
We believe that everyone, regardless of where they live, should have a decent
neighbourhood. Yet it is possible to walk down streets just yards apart and
feel as though you are in a completely different city.
This is because they way the Council allocates its resources doesn’t take into account
the varying needs of different areas. Currently it divides resources (staff and budgets)
more or less equally between the 26 different wards. It also tends to focus on the
“physical” landscape, at the expense of facilities to support the community. Yet each of
the city’s streets is different, and will therefore need different resources to ensure that all
areas are maintained to a decent standard.
We will ensure that every street and neighbourhood has the following level of service:
• A street (and, where applicable) back lane that is clear of rubbish;
• Well-maintained open spaces, parks and leisure facilities;
• Working street lights;
• Well-maintained roads and pavements;
• Seasonal flower or vegetable planting schemes;
• A dedicated neighbourhood police and community safety team;
• Recycling facilities (provided communally if they are not available as
household collections);
• Free bulky refuse collections for households
• Decent schools within a reasonable travelling distance;
• A range of activities for children and young people, especially during school
holidays;
• Public transport connections;
• A choice of housing (with affordable housing for those on lower incomes);
• High quality childcare, provided at times when parents locally need it.
We will also provide a single contact point to report any problems that people
experience in their street or area, and ensure that the Council passes these on to other
organisations if it is not responsible for the fault in question.
We have campaigned in recent years to improve road safety in the city, and forced the
Council to introduce mandatory 20mph zones. We will pilot average speed zones where
there are particular safety hazards, promote road narrowing and driver feedback signs
and introduce variable speed limits (that will come into force at appropriate times of the
day) outside schools located on major roads.
Fairer Housing
Housing in Newcastle is at crisis point. Many families are unable to move or
afford a property either to rent or to buy. Despite promises of thousands of
new homes, the Lib Dems have delivered very few and have cut back on
targets for affordable homes. As a result, people continue to move out of
Newcastle resulting in a loss of talent (and Council Tax revenue) to the city.
Homes are not just bricks and mortar. Working with the Elders Council, we will introduce a
strategy for lifelong living to ensure that new homes built can be fully adaptable to people’s
needs through different stages of their lives. We will promote a range of choices within the
social rented sector, including housing co-operatives and promote renting as a real and
cost effective alternative to raising a mortgage. To meet the needs of an ageing population,
we will investigate the possibility of increasing the amount of “extra care” housing (where
older or vulnerable people live independently, but with communal facilities and support
available) in the city.
In addition, many people have told us that the council’s allocation policy for Council
Housing is unfair, with local people feeling discriminated against. We will abolish the
current Your Choice Homes scheme, which does not promote fairness, and introduce
criteria for housing management which includes consideration of the length of time the
tenant has lived in an area. This means that people who have lived in council properties
or the immediate locality for a number of years should have a higher priority than they
do at present.
We will introduce a range of measures to promote house building and affordable
housing. In particular:
• We will identify sites where new housing can be built and promote these to
house-builders;
• We will aim for 50% of new developments to be affordable in areas of the
city where there is most demand for it;
• We will consider buying properties from private sector developments for use
as social rented accommodation;
• We will introduce a range of schemes to make housing affordable for people
through a range of buy, part buy, part rent or rent initiatives;
• We will introduce a strategy of bringing homes back into use. Too many
properties are standing empty or have the potential for conversion (i.e.
flats above shops). Increasing the amount of housing doesn’t just rely on
new build;
• We will seek to build more bungalows and manage Section 106 agreements
more effectively to deliver a higher proportion of affordable housing;
• We will explore how the city council can offer mortgages to people who will
find it difficult to access low-interest loans;
• We will work with national government to change the financial rules on
renovating older properties to bring them into affordable housing use.
Rent payments from Council tenants also include a contribution to many citywide
services e.g. grass cutting and street wardens. Effectively these are subsidising a
number of City Council services. This is not fair – many people living in Council
accommodation are on low incomes and should not have to pay twice for a service
enjoyed by all.
• We will ensure that council tenants are not paying double for the services that
they receive from the council;
• We will tackle areas of poor performance in housing management and in
particular where there is a lack of willingness to deal with problem tenants we
will use the powers available to us to tackle anti social behaviour and move the
perpetrators, not the victims of such abuse;
• We will review response times for repairs and adaptations, so that people who
need support to live in their own homes (e.g. older people, or those returning
home from hospital) receive a service that meets their needs;
• We will ensure that tenants play their part in upholding their tenancy
agreement having regard to keeping their properties and gardens in a decent
condition.
There are some particular problems associated with the private rented sector in Newcastle.
• We will work with private sector landlords and use the statutory powers
available to develop “Decent Homes” standards for private rented
accommodation
• We will set up a “Private Rented Sector” taskforce, bringing together the
licensing, planning and community safety powers created by the Labour
Government, to deal with problem landlords, problem tenants and poor
standards of maintenance of properties.
• We will establish a Student Forum, bringing together student and community
representatives, landlords and universities to ensure students have a range of
choices around where to live. We will introduce a mandatory landlord
registration scheme for houses in multiple occupation.
Supporting People
Some of our political opponents see adult care as a financial problem and a
cost pressure on the Council’s resources. We see adult care as an opportunity
to promote citizenship and empowerment, and want to make a real difference
to the quality of people’s lives.
We will do this by developing inter-agency approaches to housing, leisure, transport and
other services that people use regularly, and ensuring that those who are often ignored
or overlooked have a voice in the design of local services. We will do this by:
• Challenging the culture of service provision – where services are often designed
around the needs of staff – and championing services designed around the
needs of individuals. For example, many people say they find it difficult to get
services at weekends;
• Leading a transformation of Adult Care services to ensure that they are genuinely
person focussed and geared towards promoting independence in people’s
homes for as long as possible, through maximising the use of telecare;
• Promoting income maximisation campaigns so that every person and household
has the income to which they are entitled. This is not just good for people but will
benefit the wider city economy;
• Supporting a range of Adult Education and Development courses, and exploring
how we can provide concessions for older people, those with special needs and
learning disabilities in Adult Education (without detriment to the service as a
whole);
• Having a multi-agency approach to tackling fuel poverty – i.e. where more than
10% of a household’s income is spent on fuel costs – by promoting better
housing insulation schemes and campaigning for cheaper fuel prices;
• Working with the NHS and other agencies to narrow health inequalities and
address the problems of mental health and learning disability;
• Working with relevant community and voluntary groups to make the City more
user friendly to people with physical disabilities.
A particular issue in adult care is the lack of continuity in service provision. This is because
many of the caring jobs are filled on a temporary basis, or by agency workers, and there is a
high turnover of staff. We think these jobs should be valued more, and will investigate (with
Trade Unions and service providers) the possibility of introducing a Living Wage for such jobs
that would see them paid at a higher level than the National Minimum Wage. This would be
applied not just to services directly provided by the Council, but also those commissioned by it.
Protecting the Environment
We need to be fairer to our environment. Newcastle has a heritage of heavy industry,
which has taken its toll on our natural resources. We will tackle climate change by:
• Investigating how the city council can increase the proportion of electricity it
uses from renewable sources, and promote this as a growth market for the
North East;
• Encouraging new housing developments to have renewable energy generation
included, starting with those that are being funded by Government resources;
• Introducing free loft and cavity wall insulation for every suitable home that
would benefit, and energy saving measures for hard to heat homes (e.g.
terraced housing);
• Setting targets within the council to ensure that it matches the government’s
commitment of a reduction of 80% in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050;
• Using procurement of goods and services to ensure that the council (as a
customer) insists on high environmental standards.
We also support the idea that we should work toward being a “zero waste” city, and
seek to develop a more sustainable waste strategy. This will reflect the need to tackle
climate change, protect human health and safety as well as play a role in regeneration
and the creation of local jobs. We oppose the use of incineration, though we believe
that energy generated from waste technologies may need to be considered in treating
residual waste. We also want to see recycling extended further, to allow anyone in the
city access to either kerbside, door to door or communal recycling schemes.
We are committed to Fair Trade and Free Range products and will continue to
campaign for their greater use across the whole city. We will also ensure that Council
commissioning and procurement polices do not discriminate against Fair Trade and
Free Range products.
To ensure the wellbeing of our communities we will promote adaptation to the
consequences of climate change, such as flooding, through the adoption of the
“Planning to Adapt to Climate change” indicators. We will work with partners in
the city to develop and implement appropriate climate change adaptation
measures and policies.
Crime and Community Safety
Although serious crime has fallen, some parts of the city are plagued with graffiti,
litter and anti-social behaviour which residents find unpleasant and intimidating.
Too often people’s fears of crime and anti-social behaviour are based on their
experience in certain neighbourhoods. To the victims of crime, anti-social
behaviour is a real problem and not a ‘moral panic’ whipped up by the media.
We want a city where everyone, regardless of their age, gender, ethnic background and
sexuality, can walk down any street safely without feeling intimidated. That means not only being tough on crime and anti-social behaviour, it also means investing in breaking down barriers between different communities so that tensions are dissipated.
CCTV has helped make our streets safer and brought criminals to book. Mobile cameras have helped to reclaim the city centre and some neighbourhoods for the law-abiding majority. At present there are only 26 mobile CCTV cameras in the city. We will work with the police to deploy more mobile cameras where they are needed, as part of a broad strategy to challenge anti-social behaviour.
Neighbourhood Wardens remain popular and effective. However, there are only 53 wardens for the whole city and a significant proportion of these are funded by Council tenants. Some areas of the city which experience anti-social behaviour would benefit from a higher number of warden patrols. We will extend the service to more neighbourhoods and ensure it is properly joined up to police patrols. We will also establish an Early Intervention programme, with input from police, wardens, probation, health services and youth offending teams, to work with people who are identified as at risk of becoming offenders or reoffending.
We will work with the Police to implement Labour’s Policing Pledge, so that residents have a greater say in how their area is protected. We also support greater use of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) working alongside wardens to maintain a high police presence on our streets.
The Government’s Community Payback Scheme is a response to people who want to see the Criminal Justice System re-oriented to the needs of the victims of crime. Community Payback gives offenders a chance to “pay back” local communities for damage done (i.e. anti-social behaviour, graffiti, etc.) by doing unpaid work which aims to improve the environment. This can include litter picking, pruning trees, painting, gardening work for older people and bulb planting. It can also include winter maintenance work such as clearing snow and gritting streets. We will extend the current Government Community Payback scheme from the limited areas it covers at present to the whole city, whilst at the same time ensuring that offenders are rigorously vetted and supervised to ensure they are given appropriate placements that offer no danger to residents.
There are already good reporting systems in place for racist and homophobic attacks.
However, to prevent these happening in the first place, we need more opportunities for people to meet together and socialise. We think that’s the best way to break down barriers and build “community cohesion”. We will therefore look at the resources that the Council puts into developing “community cohesion” strategies and plans, and consider whether they would be better spent supporting local groups to put on events and activities in their own areas.
Listening to and Empowering Citizens
There are people in Newcastle who have lived here all their lives, and those who have
travelled to live here from many different parts of the world. What unites us as a
community is our pride in, and passion for, the City. We think that the Council has a role in speaking up for Newcastle’s citizens and providing community leadership to tackle the problems – and seize the opportunities – which economic, environmental and social change present. Not least, this means standing up to far right extremism – under
Labour leadership, the Council will campaign against those that seek to divide our
communities by spreading hatred and division.
We will also work alongside communities and businesses to empower our citizens, and
identify areas where services could be delivered better with more input from local
people.
Above all, we believe in generating an educated democracy, enabling people to make
greater use of the social, cultural and economic opportunities that can be offered by a
21st Century city and participating in the scrutiny of Council and other public services.
We firmly support the contribution of workplace learning and the strengthening of the
management and trade union partnership that has made Newcastle a leader in this
sphere - a process started under Labour leadership of the Council - and the vital
democratic role of Union Learning Representatives within the Council's workforce. This
successful model will be extended into creating a genuine and open community-based
adult learning partnership matching the principles of the Labour Government's Learning
Revolution strategy. Under Labour, Newcastle will become a world class 'learning city'.
What else could the Labour Group do to engage and empower people in the city, particularly those whose voices are not always heard by the City Council?
Newcastle - a fairer place to learn and work
Newcastle has a unique position as the Regional Capital. It also has a long and proud industrial heritage, marked by innovations and skilled manufacturing. In recent years, however, the city’s economy has come to rely more on the service
and tourism industries.
The public sector also continues to play a huge role, employing nearly 1 in 3 working
adults. Newcastle must be flexible and adapt its economy to the new challenges of
the 21st century – seizing opportunities such as Science City and a new generation of
green jobs. This will not happen without both leadership and stewardship, and for local
people to experience the benefits of economic growth, there will need to be much
greater involvement by the Council in managing the city’s economy.
Strengthening the Economy
Key to the success of Newcastle’s future economy is the creation of jobs.
We will seek to build on the traditional skill base, which is still so evident,
whilst adapting to the new challenges facing us. We will develop an economic
strategy for the city, including the identification of key development sites
and potential growth areas for the future. This will enable the Council to work
more closely with the Universities, Colleges and Schools in the City to ensure
that training opportunities being provided match the skills that the city will
need in the future. In particular, we want to see more jobs associated with
science (building on the Newcastle Science City status), manufacturing
(particularly the new and emerging green industries) and within the cultural
and tourism industries.
We will commit to working with all established partner organisations to develop a
business friendly city, to understand the needs of the business community and work in
partnership with business. We acknowledge the decision of the city business
community to establish a city centre partnership, taking a direct role in the future of the
city centre, and will commit management and investment from the Council. We will seek to develop the city centre into quarters, a model used successfully elsewhere in
revitalising less commercially successful areas of cities.
The City Council is a major contributor to the city and region’s economy and must
operate in its business dealings in a way that bring local economic benefits. We will
develop a straightforward and transparent procurement process for the Council and
ensure that Newcastle-based businesses have the skills and knowledge to benefit from
public sector procurement opportunities. However, under Labour control, the City
Council will seek to procure goods and services from businesses that have sound and
responsible pay policies. We will not support the awarding of contracts to organisations
which pay excessive salaries in relation to company revenues and profits.
We will reinstate an inward investment team operating directly within the city council,
and seek to rationalise the numerous arms length operations established under the
current administration. We will introduce clear and transparent governance for the
operations of all of the activities of the city council, and review operations, removing
duplication.
We recognise the value and importance of the public sector to the city’s economy,
whilst understanding the clear need to develop the private sector and ensure it is able
to respond to the opportunities offered to the city. This should not be seen as an
“either/or” debate about the future of public services – we do not wish to see the
perceived strength of the public sector and weakness of the private sector addressed
through the privatisation of current public services. Instead, we will work to establish a
more mixed economy in the city.
The Government’s decision to create 35,000 apprenticeships in both the public and
private sector is a welcome step in tackling youth unemployment. We think the Council
should also play a significant role in promoting apprenticeships and training
opportunities within the City. We will therefore:
• Seek to increase the number of apprenticeship places offered by the
City Council;
• Work alongside public and private sector employers to develop a Newcastlewide
apprenticeship scheme with a single entry point for applicants, linked
to vocational training;
• Review the availability of child care provision in the city, and ensure there is
sufficient affordable childcare to support parents access work or training;
We are concerned about the dangers of loan sharks and the difficulties many people
have in obtaining credit at a reasonable rate. We will therefore promote credit unions as
a positive alternative and ensure that the council’s policies do not discriminate against
credit unions and mutual societies. We will therefore demand tough action against loan
sharks and offer one-to-one advice for people with long term debt problems.
Transport
We think that public transport infrastructure should be given a higher priority
within Newcastle. We also want to ensure that those on modest and lower
incomes get a fair deal from transport pricing policies. Through our leadership of
the Integrated Transport Authority in Tyne and Wear we will use the (recently
acquired) powers available to us to improve local bus services, improve access
to decent, affordable bus travel to all areas of the city and set a strong policy
framework to drive up standards.
We will make sure the council works to ensure Park & Ride is more readily available and
accessible, so that those who work and socialise in the city are able to make use of public transport as part of their journeys.
We will seek to reward those who drive low emission vehicles, and would reduce or
eliminate residential parking charges for these vehicles.
We believe road safety must be a key priority and will seek to do more to protect cyclists and pedestrians in particular when travelling in local neighbourhoods. We forced the Council to introduce mandatory, not just advisory, 20 mph speed limits in all residential areas, and would implement these more quickly than currently planned to meet people’s aspirations to live on safer streets. We will also introduce road narrowing and driver feedback signs where they will make a demonstrable difference.
We support the Government and regional efforts to make Newcastle part of a new centre for electric cars, and would go further to ensure these technologies reached local
neighbourhoods to ensure as many people as possible could switch to driving electric
cars. This ambition would also support jobs in the wider city region.
We will campaign for Newcastle and the North East to benefit from high speed rail links,
and continue to make the case to Government for investment in better transport
connections between the region, the rest of the UK and Europe.
Children and Young People
In recent years Newcastle has received significant extra funding from central
government to provide better opportunities for children and young people.
These include refurbishment of most of our schools, new Sure Start
Children’s Centres in every area, and more funding for schools through
the Dedicated Schools Grant. There have also been a number of national
initiatives to improve health, wellbeing and educational achievement of
children and young people, including the introduction of Every Child Matters
(a nationwide strategy), narrowing the gap and anti-poverty legislation.
Despite this investment, there are still serious problems with some children and young
people not receiving the support they need from the city council. For example, recent
figures show that there is a rise in childhood obesity in the city, GCSE results continue
to be behind the national average, assessments of 5 year olds show that they are
behind target in their personal, social and emotional development and feedback from a
number of voluntary groups has highlighted concerns in the council’s decision-making
processes around the allocation of Children’s Fund resources.
We want to ensure that all children and young people have the same opportunities
irrespective of their social circumstances, ethnic origin or abilities. We are therefore
committed to the provision of good quality education and training, to tackling
inequalities, and to providing a range of sporting and leisure facilities that are wideranging and easy to access. We will endeavour to increase the number of young
people from Newcastle going to university.
We also believe that all children have the right to live safely in our city. Specifically, we will:
• Ensure that any young person in the city has the opportunity to access
Council run or commissioned youth services, with greater emphasis on face to
face work, more community working away from centres and employment of
workers who understand the issues faced by young people from minority
communities;
• Oppose the outsourcing of services. Newcastle does not do enough to
support community and voluntary organisations and they should be
commissioned to fill identified gaps in service need. However, this does not
mean that existing council services should be privatised;
• Aim to increase the number of young people helped by the city’s youth service
and the range of facilities offered to them;
• Aim to increase the spending per child in the city on youth services over a 5
year period, bringing Newcastle in line with better performing Councils such
as Gateshead;
• Review the funding formula for 6th Forms, to ensure that all schools are
treated fairly;
• Provide additional support and opportunities for looked-after children – for
example through work placements, council apprenticeships and lap top
computers for all children who are in education or training;
• Ensure that the Council has a strong team of experts to support improvements
in schools, to provide early interventions for those schools who may need
extra support;
• Work with schools to ensure that they have adequate funding to support
children who do not speak English as their first language.
We want to capture the opportunities around Science City for promoting science to
future generations of children. We will therefore work with primary and secondary
schools to consider ways in which science can be better promoted within our education
system, and work with schools to link them more closely with the research programmes
and enterprise development associated with Science City.
Child Poverty
Even before the current financial crisis, and in an era of apparent prosperity,
too many children in Newcastle are being left behind, with their health, wellbeing
and life chances damaged by exceptionally high levels of poverty. High levels
of poverty are linked closely and causally to high inequality; a deeply unequal
society generates not only greater costs to our public services but leaves social
and economic scars upon families and individuals. We will tackle child poverty
in Newcastle by:
• Protecting jobs, providing training opportunities to get people into work, and
attracting more jobs to the city. Putting money into people’s pockets enables
them to spend cash, thereby boosting community businesses and protecting
employment. Decently paid jobs can provide a route out of poverty, but not for
those who are excluded from the labour market;
• Promoting income maximisation, so all families get the full range of council tax
benefit, housing benefit, other tax credits and income they are entitled to;
• Tackle in-work poverty. More than half of poor children have a parent in paid work;
we will ensure that council staff are offered free income maximisation advice and
explore ways of building this into contracts with suppliers to ensure they offer a
similar service to their own workforce. We will also explore with Trade Unions the
possibility of a Living Wage for local authority staff, set at a higher rate than the
National Minimum Wage;
• Develop a child-first strategy for childcare. A work-first rather than a child-first
approach is at odds with the current Every Child Matters agenda. We will audit
child care provision in the city, and explore ways of both using existing facilities
and services (e.g. extended service schools) and stimulating the market to provide
inexpensive, good quality childcare for working parents;
• Provide fair public services for those who need them most. Low-income families
rely on public services to provide the sort of educational, health and social support
that better-off families take for granted. But the ‘inverse care law’ results in poorer
families who need more support often getting less out of public services. Tracking
patterns of service usage, targeting funding and ensuring that services reflect and
meet the needs of poorer communities will help extend valuable support to families
and reduce the educational and health divide;
• Campaign against poverty premiums in services. Poor families pay more for basic
goods, utilities and services. Premiums, pre-pay rates and high interest rates
increase prices, while special deals are often available only to those who can pay
upfront or through direct debits;
• Support and promote greater use of Credit Unions;
• Helping residents struggling to pay their Council Tax to agree a payment plan
based on what they can afford – avoiding people running up large arrears and
getting into difficulty with County Court Judgments, which affect their credit rating;
• Auditing the “hidden” school costs that parents have to pay (e.g. uniforms, school
trips etc) and explore ways to ensure that families from poorer backgrounds are
not excluded from opportunities on ground of cost;
• Introducing free school meals for all 5-7 year olds in the city, and aiming to extend
this to all 5-11 year olds within 10 years
Newcastle - a fairer place to relax and enjoy life
Newcastle emerged in the 1990s as a vibrant regional capital attracting investment, creativity, tourism and jobs. This cultural regeneration has not only transformed the city, but it is important for our economy and our regional, national and international reputation.
We want to make sure that everyone in Newcastle benefits from this regeneration. We
will use social auditing as a tool to examine who is really participating in our city’s
“cultural renaissance” and will use the results of this audit to inform future investment in arts and culture activities.
We will also develop a better understanding of, and support for, young people. There
are some parts of the city where the Council’s youth service is excellent – and other
areas where it is failing those who need it. We want to promote engagement with young
people across the city, not just those who are formally elected through the Youth
Parliament process. We also want to see more facilities in local neighbourhoods so that
young people have things to do on their doorstep.
The city’s cultural infrastructure can be seen as patchy and concentrated in the city
centre. In addition, the centre of Newcastle is a “no go” area for many people after the
shops close. Public transport in the city stops before midnight. The free wifi network
only covers the area round Grainger Town. We want to ensure a fairer deal for
Newcastle residents in access to these facilities and services. We will therefore:
• Campaign for and work with operators to introduce night-time transport for routes
where there is high demand;
• Consult on introducing a “Newcastle Resident Discount Card” giving reduced entry
fees to Newcastle residents into venues which are funded by the City Council;
• Investigate ways of making the Town Moor more enjoyable for people and consider
ways in which we can promote it as Newcastle’s “Central Park”;
• Promote later opening hours for city centre shops, public and cultural facilities (e.g.
libraries and museums);
• Review the Council’s Youth Service and the premises where it operates from,
ensuring it targets its activities at areas of greatest need;
• Review the city’s Licensing Policy to address the concerns about the lack of family
friendly venues in the city centre, the current culture of high volume alcohol
consumption and the need for tighter regulation around lapdancing clubs and sex
establishments;
• Campaign for free broadband or wifi internet access across the city;
• Introduce park keepers for our major parks, promoting and maintaining them as
“green lungs” for the city and explore area where “city parks” or “pocket parks” can
be introduced (e.g. as an alternative use of existing empty spaces);
• Look at ways of increasing the number of toilets available to the public in the city
centre;
• Make better use of our city “twinning” arrangements to increase the attraction of
Newcastle as a destination to overseas visitors;
• Work with partners to introduce a midnight firework display on New Year’s Eve;
• Hold a major consultation to develop a future vision for the City Centre, and what
needs to happen to make it different from other smaller town centres. This will
include looking at traffic and public transport management issues, whether the
pedestrian areas could be increased, the retail and leisure facilities that are
currently provided and opportunities for future developments, the quality of life
for city centre residents and the entry points for visitors (e.g. the Central Station).
In particular we will continue to develop “quarters” within the city centre –
building on areas where there are already strong identities e.g. China Town,
Northumberland Street, the Discovery Quarter, the Stephenson Quarter, the
Quayside and the Gay Village.
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Newcastle: A Fairer City
