Parklands Focus Team

Parklands Annual Report

Parklands Focus Team - Service & Action across 2023 

We thought that the start of the New Year was a good point to look back at what the Parklands Focus Team have been doing over the past year. 

During 2023, Parklands' councillors, Pauline Allen, Robin Ashby & Christine Morrissey (pictured), organised two public meetings, each concentrating on an issue we knew was important to many residents. The Police attended a packed meeting back in March to listen to residents' concerns about local crime and anti-social behaviour issues. Then in October, another packed meeting discussed recycling with the Council Officers responsible for this service. Many residents commented that they had found both meetings very informative and helpful.  

Our Main Campaigns

Our long-running Greening Parklands campaign continued through the year, with a focus on new tree planting. We have been successful in being awarded a grant for new trees and have added £1,800 to this from our ward budget. We are working with residents and Council Officers to identify locations to plant the new trees, including some to replace diseased trees that needed to be felled in Garden Village and other locations.

Getting Around Parklands and the wider city has also been a major theme. This has included campaigns to retain bus services in the Great Park and Garden Village - lack of funding for public transport means that many routes are under threat. We have also taken up issues about Metro reliability and poor performance with Metro managers. Hopefully, the (delayed) introduction of new rolling stock will help during the coming year - albeit with some disruption as modifications are undertaken to allow the new trains to run. A successful campaign led to the Council making changes to the entrance to Heritage Gardens, making it safer for cars to turn into the estate. Pauline also got the Council to prune back bushes obstructing cycleways on Brunton Lane and Warkworth Woods.

When it comes to Improving Parklands, the Focus Team have continued to press both the Council and the Great Park Consortium to sort out the required repairs that would lead to the adoption of Melbury. We have also continued to press the Council to take action to repair/improve local play areas. Christine has dealt with many complaints from YHN tenants about damp, leaking roofs and broken fences. Working with fellow Liberal Democrat councillors across Gosforth, we are continuing to press the Council to make improvements to Gosforth High Street, based on effective consultation with local people and businesses.   

In the Council Chamber

On the Council, Pauline, Robin & Christine have worked closely with their Liberal Democrat colleagues to hold the Labour-led administration to account. This has included getting unanimous support for better consultation on the future of Gosforth High Street. The Council has agreed Lib Dem motions on increased support for heating for people with chronic illnesses and action to promote increased biodiversity across the city. Lib Dem councillors also challenged the Northumbria Police & Crime Commissioner on the high levels of unsolved crimes across Newcastle. Liberal Democrats' concerns about the deteriorating human rights in China and Hong Kong, led the Council to end a town twinning relationship with a city in China.

The Year in Numbers

Across 2023, the Parklands Focus Team delivered seven editions of Focus, to almost 5,500 letter boxes each time. Over 1,600 residents also received monthly eFocus updates on news and action across the ward. Pauline, Robin and Christine dealt with over 300 queries, problems and issues received from local residents - often involving multiple emails, letters and telephone calls for each issue. They held 18 street surgeries at various locations across Parklands as well as on Gosforth High Street.