CIVIC AWARDS SCHEME

Contributed by John Sutton We are due to make further Civic Awards again this year. The object of the scheme is to encourage high quality of design and workmanship throughout the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme. The scheme is operated in conjunction with the Borough Council and is probably the project which identifies most closely with the [...]

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SUPERMARKETS RULE OK ?

Contributed by Philip Crush Supermarkets are convenient. They offer easy parking, useful trolleys, a wide range of products, competitive prices, special offers and open at times that suit our busy lifestyles. BUT convenience costs. In the days before the growth of supermarkets every town centre was full of small local traders serving their local communities. [...]

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POWER TO THE NIMBY ACTIVIST

  By Griff Rhys Jones, by permission of Civic Voice and the  National Trust  A few years ago, standing on a bridge, overlooking a motorway that enabled people to roar across Glasgow at ninety miles an hour (at enormous cost to architecture and quietude) I was proudly told by a charming Civil Engineer that the [...]

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Development

Contributed by Dr Angela Drakakis-Smith As more building sites come on stream within Newcastle and although there appears to be no rapid uptake of these sites, it is important to be aware of any planning applications made for these sites to the Newcastle Borough Council (NBC) especially those in and on the edge of the [...]

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Tesco Development – Summer 2010

Contributed by Mr Ron Redgewell  As we go to press, the Public Inquiry is taking place into Tesco’s planning application to nearly double the size of its store in Trent Vale. Fellow member, Paul Farrelly, MP, succeeded in convincing the Secretary of State to ‘call in’ Stoke-on-Trent Council’s decision to approve the application, thus enabling a Planning [...]

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Parks – Summer 2010

Contributed by Dr Angela Drakakis-Smith  Parks appear to be on the mind of the Newcastle Borough Council (NBC) of late.  The Queen’s Gardens and the Queen Elizabeth Gardens  were due for a makeover, as were the Brampton and Thistleberry Parkway – the latter being not so much a park as a landscaped walkway.  Plans and [...]

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Going Up ?

Contributed by Dr Angela Drakakis-Smith Those who have followed the development of the former Georgia Pacific site opposite to St Giles’s Church along the A34 and next to the former Pomona Inn, might notice that the shell of the new building is now with us.  Whilst the exterior appears better than first thought in terms [...]

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Draft Energy Efficiency and Climate Change Strategy

Contributed by Dr Angela Drakakis-Smith     Newcastle Borough Council Cabinet has just approved a draft Efficiency and Climate Change Strategy (with an associated Carbon Reduction Plan) which is currently available for consultation.  Deadline for comments from the public is the end of February.  The document can be downloaded from www.newcastle-staffs.gov.uk/climatechange or it is available [...]

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The Public Realm Project

Contributed by Dr Angela Drakakis-Smith   Anyone asking the question ‘What’s that?’ may be forgiven – and though there is ‘public’ in the title and we are, largely speaking, ‘The Public’- since few will have heard of this Project.  Some time ago the Civic Society was asked to comment on ‘a plan’ for the town [...]

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Going Swimmingly

Contributed by Dr Angela Drakakis-Smith   It seems that the public Jubilee Baths are about to be demolished and a new baths and leisure centre built.  The plans are currently on deposit at the Guildhall and on the Borough Council web site. The reality of a new leisure centre arises because the old one needs [...]

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