Newcastle Great Park (1)

Newcastle

Housing, including extra-care facility, restaurant and café within new local centre for Newcastle Great Park. Designed by Ryder HKS.

We also reviewed this scheme on 5 February 2009.

Throughout our ongoing involvement in this project, we have continued to stress the importance of a mixed-use town centre in creating a successful and sustainable new community. We are therefore disappointed that the concerns we have raised previously have not been addressed. In particular, that the proposals lack a clear organising idea for the layout and design of the town centre, other than a ruthless parking strategy. These concerns have now been born out in the current planning application for sub cells F2, F2a and F3a.

In our view, the quality of applications for individual sub-cells can not be considered before the fundamental structure and character of the town centre has been thoroughly analysed, resolved and its key principles set out and approved by the local planning authority. Equally, it is likely to prove challenging for applicants to make proposals without clear and robust parameters for development. The fundamental principles that we think are lacking and need to be set out at this stage include:

• A clear hierarchy and structure of streets, public spaces and pedestrian routes and an attitude to how buildings, uses and spaces address them.
• The scale, structure and typology of the development.
• A revised and integrated approach to parking; we question the need for the quantum of parking currently proposed given that this is a 'local' centre.

We are concerned that the current approach does not demonstrate a commitment to delivering a coherent and high quality public realm that connects the local centre to the business centre to the north and the new residential areas to the east and west.

Equally, the relationship between the sub-cells does not seem to have been addressed, between the health and leisure quarter and the rest of the town centre in particular.  As currently proposed, the local centre has not been parcelled and phased in a way that relates to the key north south pedestrian route or public square. At the very least we would expect to see consideration of sections through the primary public route, as well as street sections between the local centre and its immediate neighbours.

In the absence of an approved urban design strategy, we cannot provide detailed comments on the layout and architecture for these sub cells, although based on the material provided these appear to be low quality. However, the following examples are indicative of the lack of a considered relationship between the public realm within the local centre and the sub-cells within it and the residential areas that surround it.

• The site planning demonstrates the lack of consideration for the experience of pedestrians walking from the residential areas to the west into the town centre.  As currently proposed, the route to the north of the extra care facility deliver pedestrians into a carpark access road where the pavement that simply runs out, with an inactive end elevation on one side and wall on the other.
• The strategy for fronting onto the main public route through the town centre is unclear; as currently proposed the extra care seems to present its 'rear' elevation.

It is disappointing that the town centre of this large new community is not being given the careful or serious thought it deserves. The current proposals in the design and access statement fail to meet the standards set out in national planning policy (PPS1 and PPS3) and should not be given planning permission. We urge Newcastle City Council to show leadership and require that an agreed urban design and public realm strategy is approved before further detailed planning applications are considered. Based on the process so far, we are doubtful that a Section 106 agreement will achieve a successful town centre.