Tyneside Committee Report
Report by Mike Casselden
Officers of the Tyneside Committee have been proactive in meeting with the planning and conservation staff at Newcastle City and North Tyneside Councils to establish good working relationships and effective lines of communication. An archive of key planning and conservation policies and documents is being created in our office so clarification of key documents is assisting with this.
One item informally discussed with North Tyneside officers was the possible establishment of a conservation advisory panel similar to that running in Newcastle. The Committee has met with Jules Brown from the North of England Civic Trust and with their support the idea will be progressed via North Tyneside Council.
The Committee’s contribution to the ‘cut the clutter’ advertisement campaign continues with a recent success in Salter’s Road, Gosforth, where the council acted to get an unauthorised banner sign removed.
The Committee are looking for some kind person to donate a laptop so that we can continue to present images of planning development proposals at our meetings. Please contact Sue if you can help.
The Government’s localism proposals are generating lots of discussion. A key element will be the ability of local communities to produce neighbourhood plans, which will have policy status in the planning system. Money is being made available for bodies to take on the role of offering training and guidance to communities so this is likely to be a focus for discussion between various environmental bodies.
The Royal Town Planning Institute which runs its charity Planning Aid helping communities and marginalised individuals to engage with the planning process, hope to get involved, as will the Prince’s Trust. Hopefully a fuller report can be given in a future edition. In the meantime, would it not be a good idea for the Society to do a skills audit amongst members with specialist planning cum architectural skills so we can get together to assist the Society in having a stronger voice on planning issues, across the county and city? Just a thought.
City and County
February 2011
