The story of the motorways 1972-5
I recently had a piece published on how Newcastle almost became a multiple motorway city. This prompted Peter Morris, local government reporter for the Evening Chronicle in the 1970s and 1980s to contact me and he very kindly gave me access to some of his writing from that period, particularly that pertaining to roads and the Metro, This is the first of four pieces using that material to trace a momentous time in the history of the city when the motorway dream largely faded and was replaced by another dream; that of a modern rapid transport system. However, it wasn’t plain sailing on either front as we shall see.
The motorway dream fades
On 8 September 1972 we saw the beginning of the end of the idea of Newcastle becoming a multiple motorway city, with the news of a report by two Labour councillors casting doubts on the motorway plans.
Just over a month later on 9 October came more negative news; that the proposed Coast Road Motorway faced a shock delay, as Morris wrote: “work on Newcastle’s £5 million Coast Road extension motorway will not go ahead for a year and there may have to be another public inquiry.”
However, not all motorway plans were being criticised as on 22 November 1972, there was a piece claiming that the North “must have motorway lifeline through North Yorkshire”. It was to be about 45 years later that Tyneside was finally joined up with the rest of the motorway network in Britain through the completion of the A1(M) in North Yorkshire.
To return to Newcastle’s urban motorways, near the end of 1972, Morris questioned whether we need the urban motorway, by visiting Nottingham and seeing how they were doing things differently there. This doubt was reinforced on 12 March 1973 with a report stating that, “there is little or no evidence that the motorways planned for Newcastle will markedly reduce traffic congestion in this city says a report today” The report came from Dr, Mary Cooper of Newcastle University.
Then on 11 April 1973, we are told that Tyneside Environmental Concern were calling for a halt to futur4 motorway plans, while a couple of weeks later on 26 April the environmental organisation Save our City from Environmental Mess (Socem) was seeking travel data asking hundreds of Newcastle residents about travel habits and attitudes to urban motorways, with a view to casting doubt on the plausibility of future motorway plans.
The following month saw more doubts cast on the multiple motorway plans as on 21 May 1973, Gateshead West MP John Harram spoke against the proposed Coast Road motorway in Newcastle.
This view was reinforced when on 7 June 1973, it was reported that, “some of the basic principles on which Newcastle’s 50 million pounds plus motorway programme are going ahead challenged in a secret report prepared recently in the city planning department”. Here then was a clear sign that city planners were changing their minds over the motorway plans.
On 12 October, there was a piece about SOCEM calling for more preservation of the city’s architectural heritage, while the following month on 29th November it was reported that five major roads faced the axe – £12 million of new roads in all – including the Jesmond Road motorway.
The money starts to run out
As Britain faced ever increasing economic problems, so many of the dreams of the 1960s were beginning to fade and on 18 December 1973 there was news that rates may go up by as much as 7%, while the motorways faced the axe. Indeed, inflation was becoming a major obstacle to the building of more motorways as it was announced on 14 January 1974, that the cost of the Newcastle Central Motorway East, the one motorway that would eventually be built, was going up by £3 million. Then two days later on 16 January came the news that there were to be £10 million cuts to road plans.
As a reappraisal of plans continued, so on 24 January the Evening Chronicle featured a piece looking at the problems of planning a city, including looking at other cities including Birmingham, Coventry, Leicester and Liverpool.
The problem of inflation and running out of money was highlighted again on 7 February 1974, when Morris wrote that, “big increases in the cost of Newcastle’s Central Motorway East could justify a decision not to build any more motorways in the city. The claim was made by Coun Walter Wilson Labour deputy leader and transport spokesman”. He was commenting on a Traffic, Highways and Transport Committee report that the total cost of the motorway has gone up from £11 547 100 to £14 850 420”.
However, there was some good news reported a month later, as on 13 March 1974 there came a report that the Central Motorway East could be completed months ahead of schedule by Christmas 1974 according to Costain. In the end it wasn’t – in fact it was only completed three months after the original April 1975 date.
More cold water was poured on the motorway plans on 21 March when Councillor Walter Wilson claimed that in the 1960s, councillors had been beguiled ten years ago into giving support to the motorway city idea. But now it was claimed attitudes had changed. Indeed, on the same day, 21 March, it was announced that, “plans for a big upheaval in Newcastle’s road and motorway programme, including the lifting of the threat of demolition from more than 1 000 homes, were announced today.”
Tyne and Wear Council
In April 1974, Tyne and Wear Council came into effect and on 4 April, the newly elected Tyne and Wear councillors had agreed to what was described as a motorway in thin air that they didn’t want, running from the southern end of Scotswood Bridge to Blaydon. Later that month on 16 April Morris wrote that, “redevelopment of Newcastle city centre always had one basic aim. By reaffirming the city as capital of the North, it would attract employment.” But now the question was being asked, if it was time the planners take stock.
There was more bad news on the road front on 6 June, when what was described as the ill-fated Scotswood Bridge, only opened in 1967, which was said to be already undergoing testing and strengthening “must now be tested for metal fatigue”.
Five days later, on 11 June it was reported that there was to be a re-think on what were described as ‘unacceptable’ motorway plans and indeed two weeks later on 26 June 1974, Morris reported that, “Newcastle’s Coast Road expansion motorway is almost certain to be redesigned. It is likely to be reduced from a three lane to a two-lane dual carriageway and an interchange may be scaled down”.
In the following month on10 July it was noted that £4mn was to be cut from the roads budget in order to keep the rates down, while at the beginning of autumn on 4 September came the news that the end of the Coast Road dream was now being predicted. On 17 September, SOCEM were said to support the changes in the plans for the Coast Road, although three months later on 6 December. it was also reported that protestors against motorways may take up the fight again.
More controversy about roads came the following day, on 5 September when Evening Chronicle readers were informed that motorway juggernauts were causing a lot of damage to Tyneside homes and that, “three houses in Dunston have been so badly damaged that people can no longer live in them, according to a report out today”.
The following week, on 11 September 1974, motorists had more bad news: “Gosforth by-pass plans face the threat of more delays because of a change in Government policy on trunk roads in the North East”. Tyne and Wear committed to other big transport plans may not be able to find the money for years
The way that the cost of building roads was increasing rapidly by the mid-1970s was again demonstrated on 7 November, when Morris reported that, “the estimated cost of a big new road to be built on Tyneside has gone up by almost £1 million. The new A695 between Scotswood Bridge and Blaydon will cost £4 787 524 according to a new estimate given to the Tyne and Wear Highways Committee today. This compares with an earlier estimate of £3 867 382.”
Finally in 1974 there was a final expression of support for more major road schemes, with a call by Tyne Wear Road Users Group for 13 major road schemes which should be built including the AA, CBI, Freight Transport Association and Road Haulage Association.
Into 1975
15 March 1975 brought the following headline: “No cash for vital road schemes” scores of small road schemes considered vital by councillors will not go ahead due to a lack of cash, while exactly a month later on 15 April it was reported that 30 major road schemes costing £30 million now looked certain to be axed.
In a similar vein, a week later on 22 April Morris reported that, “plans for a full-scale motorway to link Newcastle’s Central Motorway East to the Newcastle-Tynemouth Coast Road were buried for good today.” Indeed, there was great uncertainty about what the future plans would be.
This confusion can be seen by the fact that on 29 April, it was reported that plans for a large new road to link Central Motorway East and Coast Road were said to be still in favour despite decision to scale it down from a full motorway. However, the very next day on 30 April 1975, Morris was reporting that a “lack of money might prevent a major new road being built to link Newcastle’s Central Motorway East to the Newcastle-Tynemouth Coast Road – even if councillors decide that is what they want”,
Yet more bad news came on 7 May, when it was reported that “the cause of bridge faults which have delayed the opening of part of Gateshead’s Western by-pass for months, has been hushed up long enough a councillor said today”. It was also said that the road was expected to be open in July or early August 1975 – almost a year late.
With the economy in deep trouble, it was almost inevitable that on 14 May, the government announced that spending restraints would mean no new roads in Tyne and Wear for up to ten years. One road scheme was to be allowed in the end, as on 18 June, Morris reported that, “a new Redheugh Bridge is the only major road scheme that Tyne and Wear councillors are planning up to 1980”.
On 27 May, a new row blew up over Coast Road motorway extension as residents say they were not consulted over plans.
Despite the road gloom, it was announced on 24 June that speed limits on the Tyne Bridge and other parts of the A1 going through Newcastle and Gateshead were set to go up.
In the summer holidays, it was announced on 1 August 1975 that Tyne and Wear ratepayers may get a shock rise in rates due to the rising costs of the Central Motorway East, as the final cost could be over £1 million over the latest estimate.
There was some anger with the government on 5 August when Morris reported that, “demands for a top-level probe were made today after Whitehall swung the axe on the North’s road building programme. Gosforth’s long-awaited by-pass has been delayed yet again – and plans for improvements to the A1 and the main Newcastle-Carlisle road have also become victims of the public spending crisis.” Just over a week later however, on 14 August, it was noted that while there had been renewed calls for an A1 Gosforth by-pass there was no chance of success in foreseeable future.
The end of the Coast Road motorway finally came on 29 October 1975 when it was announced that there would be no new road construction in Coast Road for rest of 1970s, while the next day Tyne Wear Road Users Group warned that restraints placed on private car use in Newcastle City Centre could endanger the city’s prosperity.
Finally in 1975, on 9 December 1975, the news that had been building all year came, that road spending in Tyne and Wear was to be slashed by half in 1976.
Comment
The great motorway dream, so clearly spelled out in Wilfred Burns’ 1963 Development Plan, died slowly, with only the Central Motorway East getting completed. There were a number of factors which started to kill off the motorways plan; the rising costs, the establishment of Tyne and Wear council, as a counterpoint to Newcastle City Council, the protests groups such as SOCEM and not least as we shall see more of later in this series, the growing desire for a modern rapid transport system on Tyneside.
