North Tyneside Council proposes a Gypsy/Travellers site and a MASSIVE development of affordable social/council Housing on the four fields next to the Holystone by-pass/Holystone Way (Scaffold Hill). Scaffold Hill was previously designated as "Open Land". A further 630 Homes are also planned for Shiremoor West, to the east of the A19.
The core strategy proposals do not show the location or extent of any social housing developments, however, the core strategy does show two of the housing developments exclusively as "Executive Housing" these are White house Farm on the land south east of the Sandy Lane roundabout, opposite the garden center (Site 69: 510 Houses) and the Well field site adjacent to Whitley Bay (site 78: 210 Houses).
It's unlikely the executive housing developments will include social housing. The Social Housing quota is up to 25 percent, meaning more than 2,500 dwellings would be social housing somewhere across the planned developments. The exact proportions would be decided by the council later and would favour areas with good public transport links
The Holystone Scaffold Hill development (site 107: 450 Homes) is planned for an area previous designated as open land. The development will require a new access on to the Holystone way. Potential access arrangements are shown by the purple arrows in the image.
Given the increased traffic congestion on the Holystone bypass (Holystone Way) it is likely that it will need to be made into a Dual Carriageway (see Key Housing Sites document), this will impact all residents who's homes back on the bypass. Not only will the view of the fields go, but they will have a dual carriage way to contend with.
The issues for consideration and resolution in the core strategy relating to transport & highways for the Scaffold Hill development says:
"A Transport Assessment will be required. A191 suffers congestion - should investigate the need to dual Holystone by-pass. Holystone/A19 improved but limited capacity remains. Junction upgrades at A191/B1317 and A191/Coach Lane may be necessary. Public Rights of Way in area, W9 should be improved to bridleway as well as surrounding network linking with adjacent housing developments via paths / dust cycleway."
If the plan goes ahead the Holystone/Scaffold Hill development is one of the first to be started with a projected 100 homes completed in years 1 to 5 and the remaining 350 homes in years 6 to 10. In contrast, the Shiremoor West (South) development (Site 65) is not projected to start until years 6 to 10, with the first dwellings completed in years 6 to 10 and the remainder within 15 years. Shiremoor West (North) (site 77) will not start until years 10 to 15.
Holystone is one of the first site to be developed. The development will likely start with the road junction improvements and the conversion of the Holystone bypass (Holystone Way) to a Dual Carriageway.
The core strategy plan is already approved subject to public consultation, you only have until 5pm on the 31st August 2010 to make your views known as part of this consultation.
The preferred or so called "search area" for the Gypsy/travellers site is shown on the key diagram by a yellow dashed line and includes an area around Sandy Lane (not shown) and a stretch of the A19 between the Tyne Tunnel North and the Killingworth A19 junction.
Between the Tyne Tunnel and the Killingworth exit of the A19, most of the land is either inaccessible, already developed, marked as residential development, designated open land or part of a a green wedge green dotted arrows on diagram). The only real suitable areas falling within the "Area of Search" along the A19 corridor are located around the Holystone/Shiremoor exit of the A19
Official Gypsy and Traveller sites tend to be well kept, however, there is a strong public negative perception that Gypsy and Traveller sites are messy dumping grounds where crime is rife - these stem mainly from unauthorised sites, on official Gypsy/Traveller sites this is generally not the case.
The council plans to construct the travellers site initially with nine pitches (for 18 caravans & 18 cars). North Tyneside Council prefers site locations travellers have occupied in the past because they erroneously assume traveller's themselves prefer these sites. In reality, previous unauthorised travellers sites could simply be sites accessible to travellers and not as such sites the travellers actually preferred.
Despite the size of the A19 search corridor, there are few sites capable of supporting a Gypsy/Traveller's site - Would you want to live next to a refuse site? One possible site is the A19/Holystone Junction - land not marked for residential development in the core strategy proposals. The A19/Holystone Junction is considered a prime site because of easy access to the trunk road network, capacity for future expansion, proximity of shops, schools, health centers along with the natural screening of the metro line, A19 road and the wooded area to the south of the site.
North Tyneside Council planners have proposed the limited search area's solely for political reasons and/or to locate the Traveller's site away from other areas of North Tyneside such as Killingworth. Instead of following the correct approach of properly considering the real needs of the traveller community when establishing suitable search areas for sites, as has been done by numerous other local authorities
Holystone Action Group is opposed to the North Tyneside proposals for a "Preferred Area" (option 18b) in the core strategy, this will be Council policy until 2027 and hence a planning consideration. North Tyneside Council should undertake a proper consultation of suitable search area's, as other councils have done, which not only follow location guidance within ODPM Circular 01/2006 but more closely match the needs of the Traveller community.
Traveller folk should be up in arms against the council proposal to accept (option 18b). North Tyneside has no traveller transit sites and their only proposal for the next 17 years is to provide a preferred corridor with limited options for sites. The sites are either locked between dual carriageways and rail lines or adjacent refuse tips and industrial land and none suitable for traveller families or the government strategy of community integration
