Throckley Leazes Tenants and Residents Group Established January 1998 Chairman Jennie Stokell Vice Chairman Secretary Carol Eddy Treasurer Sheila Grey Monday 22 August 2016 David Owen, Review Officer, (Newcastle upon Tyne) Local Government Boundary Commission for England, 14th Floor, Millbank Tower, Millbank, London, SW1P 4QP. Dear Sir or Madam, Ref : City of Newcastle upon Tyne - Draft Recommendations on New Electoral Arrangements - Callerton Throckley I have been asked by our Ward Counsellors to thank you for putting Walbottle back into this electoral ward. My Group are still not happy about this new ward created by apparently adding odd bits of the outer City to Newburn, Throckley, etc, to create a “patchwork” ward with little cohesion along its length once away from the riverside settlements. Our objections are as follows 1. Consultation. My Group are disappointed that the City Council have again failed to publise this consultation about the proposed changes to the ward boundaries and the implications to the people living in the areas. We have found when raising the issue at our meetings and in private conversations, that there is more interest than we would have expected once the whole project relating to the proposed changes around Throckley and Newburn are explained. This interest is across the age ranges of residents, not simply among the elderly who have memories of the Newburn Urban District Council and its governance of the area prior to Newburn, etc. inclusion in the City of Newcastle upon Tyne. Local people are possessive of the long term history of their area and the events which make up their social and cultural heritage. They are unhappy with the proposed changes that see the historical and industrial village of Newburn wiped off the electoral scene and the addition of tiny rural/agricultural settlements scattered over a huge area being brought into the Ward. The majority of people in Newburn and Throckley have no connections with these small settlement. 1. Reflect Local Community Interests This is the second of the Commission‘s criteria, set out in Law to ensure that changes to electoral areas reflect the lives, employment and cultural activities of the populace. We do not believe that the far extended boundaries proposed for the new Throckley Callerton Ward do this. 1.1. The settlements of Newburn, Throckley and Walbottle have a collective history of heavy industry tied to the River Tyne. It is still within the memory of older people when the foundries which were on the riverside all the way up to Newburn bridge had steam hammers and other noisy equipment active throughout the night and work coloured the night sky with a high glow and often leaping flames. Descriptions like these are passed onto children by grandparents etc. creating a cultural adhesive which encourages children to take an interest in the immediate past and local history. 1.2. The vast acres added to the ward (Callerton Throckley) do not have these or similar associations. The area to the north east of the B6324 is agricultural land with small groups of houses which can hardly be called settlements. Towards the proposed new ward’s eastern boundary is Woolsington which can only be called a settlement because of all the new houses built in the last 20/30 years. 1.3 None of the groups of houses nor any newly developed settlements have any links or associations with the villages of Newburn, Throckley and Walbottle. What is more to confirm this lack of links there are no major roads directly linking these “villages” to Newburn, Throckley and Walbottle, nor any public transport. For any elected Counsellor who does not drive, visiting his/her constituents near the eastern boundaries will involve journeys by bus into Newcastle and out again, all very time consuming and expensive. 1.4. The areas to the east of the B6324 look as if they have been attached to the settlements of Newburn, Throckley and Walbottle simply because the people in the City deciding the where the new boundaries should lie, could not think of where to attach this huge area with very, very few people. Further thought should earnestly be given to placing the whole of this area to the wards in the north east if the City Boundary. 1.5 Woolsington, Kenton Bank Foot and the three Callerton settlements are likely to grow in size in the immediate future as their proximity to the airport and Newcastle Great Park will hopefully bring more jobs and therefore more houses. The Metro is also close to this area which allows residents more flexibility, east to N. west but not south west to Newburn, Throckley and Walbottle. These facts mean that this area will develop of its own accord and the people living in these settlements develop autonomy which will drive them further from the people living in the older villages to the south and closer to Ponteland and Morpeth both of which are in Northumberland. 2. Promote Effective and Convenient Local Government The sheer acreage of this Ward is going to work against this proposal. How can three Counsellors address all the population and their needs (real or imagined) when they have to cover so much arid ground once away from their “metropolitan centre” along the River. Apart from the A69 going west and the A696 traversing N.E. there are only B and unnumbered roads throughout the area from the A69 to the ward boundary at the other side of the airport. Counsellors will find considerable difficulty travelling to attend surgeries, particularly during the winter as they will be for the most part driving on ungritted road which are in a poor state of repair. Will it be cost effective for Counsellors to give over a Saturday morning for a surgery in a tiny settlement like Callerton, or will the occupants of the Callerton villages have to travel to Woolsington - a nightmare journey if you don’t have a car. 3. Name of Ward Dropping the name Outer West Ward is a positive step and one which my Group approve. However, they are unhappy with other aspects of the name for the new ward. 3.1. Newburn My Group are very concerned that these proposals remove the name of Newburn from the list of City Wards. Newburn has existed since the 14th Century and can show far more history and interest than most of the other wards in the Council, save those within the medieval City Walls. 3.2. If the name of Newburn is to be dropped from the ward name, Throckley should take precedence over Callerton. Even putting Black Callerton together with Callerton, the size of Throckley exceeds their population by at least 3 thousand households. We as a Group would ask the Commission to give primacy of name to Throckley in the event that Throckley Callerton is retained as the name of the ward. I am dispatching this letter by e-mail as I have just realised today is the final date for co0mme3nts and objections. The hard copy will follow. Yours faithfully, Jennie Stokell, (Miss) F.I.H. Chairman, Throckley Leazes Tenants and Residents Group. Cc Anne Whittaker Clls. Wright, Franks, Fairley .