Newcastle Great Park

Newcastle Great Park is a new suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is located in North Newcastle, some four miles north of the City Centre. Much of Newcastle Great Park is still under development and is sandwiched in between older areas of Newcastle, namely Gosforth, Fawdon and Kingston Park to the south, and Hazlerigg to the north. Newcastle Great Park is the largest housing development in the North East of England.[1]

Newcastle Great Park

Newcastle Great Park
Location within Tyne and Wear
OS grid referenceNZ 229 709
Metropolitan borough
Metropolitan county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townNEWCASTLE UPON TYNE
Postcode districtNE3 & NE13
Dialling code0191
PoliceNorthumbria
FireTyne and Wear
AmbulanceNorth East
UK Parliament

History

Development of this area, Newcastle City Council's 'Northern Development Area' had been in planning since at least 1991.[2] In the 1990s the plans consisted of 2,500 houses and a 200-acre business and industrial development which could provide up to 10,000 jobs.[3] Current indicative phasing shows plans for 3,300+ homes by 2030 and 4,100+ beyond 2030.[1]

Play park within Melbury development (April 2014)
Great Park Store within Melbury development (now closed).

Prior to the area becoming a large housing and business development, the area to the north of the Great Park development was Hazlerigg Colliery. After the colliery closed the land it stool on was redeveloped into Havannah Nature Reserve. Fawdon Wagonway served the local collieries during the 19th century; the Wagonway lends its name to a street in the new development and part of the wagonway's route is still in existence as a public footpath.

Development

The Newcastle Great Park development is 15 years into a 30+ year building project.[1] Estates within the Great Park include:

  • Brunton Grange (phases 1, 2 & 3)
  • Brunton Green
  • Brunton Meadows
  • Brunton Village
  • Brunton West
  • East Moor Village
  • Elmwood Park Court
  • Elmwood Park Gardens
  • Elmwood Park Green
  • Elmwood Park View
  • Greenside
  • Melbury
  • Warkworth Woods
  • West Heath

Housing is currently under development by Charles Church, Persimmon Homes and Taylor Wimpey. Great Park town centre is under construction near Brunton Lane to the west of the A1.[4] According to Newcastle City Council the town centre will include a supermarket, high street style shops, cafes, restaurants, a hotel, nursing home, private hospital and leisure facilities.

Housing numbers

House building in Great Park started in 2001 on the Warkworth Woods development shortly followed by Melbury in 2002. The table below shows current and planned housing numbers, in date order, up to 2030:[5]

Development Name Development Cell Developer Timescale Number of Homes
Warkworth Woods Cell H TBC 2001–2005 175
Melbury Cell I TBC 2002–2010 500
Greenside Cell G Taylor Wimpey & Persimmon Homes 2007–2016 326
Town Centre (Flats - phase 1) Cell F TBC 2009–2010 82
East Moor Village Cell F Taylor Wimpey 2009–2012 82
Brunton Village / Grange (phase 1) Cell F Taylor Wimpey & Persimmon Homes 2010–2015 282
Brunton Grange (phase 2) Cell F Taylor Wimpey & Persimmon Homes 2013–2019 332
Elmwood Park Court / View / Gardens / Green Cell C Persimmon Homes & Charles Church 2013–2021 432
Brunton Green / Grange (phase 3) Cell E Taylor Wimpey & Persimmon Homes 2015–2019 155
Town Centre (Flats - phase 2) Cell F TBC 2016–2017 38
Brunton West Cell D Taylor Wimpey 2017–2021 82
Brunton Meadows Cell D Persimmon Homes 2017–2021 81
West Heath Cell D Taylor Wimpey 2017–2021 164
The Oaklands Cell D Charles Church 2020-2022 44
TBC Cell D TBC 2021–2029 429
TBC Cell A TBC 2021–2030 880

Education

Newcastle Great Park contains one first school, Brunton First School, and as Newcastle operates a three tier education system older students feed into Gosforth Junior High Academy and on to Gosforth Academy. Brunton First School opened in September 2009.[6]

In 2015 the academy unveiled a bid to build an additional 1,200-place secondary school in Newcastle Great Park as potential plan to meet the demand for school places from the expanding residential community in the area.[7] The Secretary of State for Education confirmed the proposal to build a school as part of the Gosforth Academy federation at the Great Park in Cell A with an intended opening date of September 2020.[8] Formal approval of a first school providing spaces for 450 pupils and a middle/secondary school for up to 1,700 pupils was granted by Newcastle City Council in October 2019.[9] The Great Park Academy (GPA) has been delayed due a judicial review process which wildlife campaigners lost in February 2020.[10][11] The new schools are now expected to open in September 2022 and contingency measures, including 'bulge classes' at existing schools, are being implemented to provide for pupils.[12]

Business

Sage
The Great Park headquarters of business software company Sage Group plc.

The software company Sage Group has their world headquarters in Newcastle Great Park.[13] Sage Group's building, named North Park, was one of the first occupants of Newcastle Great Park in 2004 as Sage moved their Newcastle-based staff into a single building for the first time having previously been spread between two buildings on Benton Park Road and also in Horsley House in Regent Centre.

Sage's 32,000 square metres (340,000 sq ft) building housing approximately 1500 employees was built at a cost of £57 million.[14] The building was worked on by Cundall, Tolent and idpartnership architects,[15] and required the use of the largest mobile crane in the country at the time of construction.[16] The building was shortlisted for the British Council for Offices Awards (2005 - Corporate Workplace Project) and was the runner up for the Landmark Awards (2005 - Office Development).[17]

During the planning stages Sage's building was initially earmarked for Cell B of the development before switching to Cell C; moving further from the A1 road.[18] The building was designed to be built in two phases and able to house up to 3000 members of staff, however this expansion did not occur.[19]

In 2019 Sage announced their intention to move their Newcastle office out of their North Park headquarters building and into the Cobalt Business Park,[20] the UK's largest business park, signing a 15-year lease starting 2020/2021.[21]

Esh Plaza
Esh Plaza

Esh Plaza is a business office development consisting of two buildings – previous occupants included the Credit Services Association and the NHS.[22][23]

Shopping

A Londis shop, which opened on Featherstone Grove in March 2011, was the first store in the Melbury estate (this changed to a Premier Express shop known as 'The Great Park Store'), but this has since closed. A pharmacy is open in the town centre area. As of 2019 the consortium are in a discussions with supermarket and public house operators to open sites within the development.[24]

Community

The Great Park Community Centre, based on Roseden Way, opened in March 2014 and provides a range of services and facilities to the local community including:

  • A main hall that can seat up to 100 people
  • The main hall can be split into 3 smaller spaces
  • Meeting room for up to 14 people
  • Kitchen facilities
  • 2 x Sports England standard football pitches
  • Floodlit courts including:
  • 2 x floodlit tennis courts
  • Netball court
  • Basketball court
  • 2 x 5-a-side pitches

A wide range of activities run from the centre including Pilates, Children's Dance, Drama Sessions, Martial Arts, Girl Guides, Summer Camps, Free Play and more.[25]

Transport

Air

The closest airport to Newcastle Great Park is Newcastle International Airport, which is located approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) away by road.

Bus

Newcastle Great Park is served by bus routes 46 (operated by Arriva North East) and Quaylink Q3 (operated by Go North East).

The 46 links Haymarket Bus Station with Gosforth, Regent Centre and Featherstone Grove (Melbury). The route operates up to every 15 minutes during the day (Monday to Saturday), and hourly on Sunday.

The Quaylink Q3 links Wallsend, Walker, Ouseburn and Quayside with Haymarket Bus Station,[note 1] Gosforth, Regent Centre, Great Park Park and Ride and Great Park Village. The route operates up to every 15 minutes during the day (Monday to Saturday), and half-hourly during the evening and on Sunday.

Rail

The closest Tyne and Wear Metro stations to Newcastle Great Park are located at Fawdon and Kingston Park, with Newcastle Central being the closest National Rail station.

Road

Newcastle Great Park is situated on the A1 road, to the north of Newcastle.

References
  1. One Core Strategy - Newcastle Great Park Policy NN4 presentation, Newcastle City Council, 15 October 2014
  2. Newsletter 3, Newcastle Action Group to Save the Green Belt, November 1993
  3. Northern Development Area Bulletin No 1, 25 March 1998
  4. "Newcastle Great Park - Newcastle City Council". Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  5. One Core Strategy, EXAD48 Newcastle Great Park revised housing delivery numbers, June 2014
  6. "Brunton First School". Archived from the original on 22 October 2009. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
  7. "New £30m school planned for Gosforth to tackle Newcastle's pupil places shortage". The Evening Chronicle. 1 April 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  8. "Great Park Update: June 2017". www.gosforthacademy.org.uk. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  9. "Newcastle Great Park expansion formally approved | Newcastle City Council". www.newcastle.gov.uk. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  10. Holland, Daniel (12 February 2020). "Campaigners lose High Court battle over 1,200 new homes at Great Park". Newcastle Chronicle. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  11. "Great Park". Newcastle residential areas. 27 July 2015. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  12. Holland, Daniel (17 February 2020). "Newcastle facing shortage of school places for 2020 and 2021". Newcastle Chronicle. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  13. "Contact us". Sage Group. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
  14. "Sage becomes first FTSE100 company to open its doors to Google Business View". Cundall. 5 September 2014. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
  15. "Sage Headquarters". IDPartnership. 1 January 2005. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  16. "Sage Headquarters". Tolent Construction. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  17. "Sage Headquarters". Cundall. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
  18. Newcastle Great Park December 2001 NGP Bulletin Number 8.
  19. "Sage HQ set to be approved". The Journal. 23 February 2002.
  20. "Sage announces £40m investment in major new hub for colleagues in the North East". Sage Group plc. 1 July 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  21. "Sage signs 15-year lease at Cobalt Business Park". Property Funds World. 1 July 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  22. "Contact CSA". Credit Services Association. Archived from the original on 7 September 2013. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
  23. "Bevan House directions" (PDF). NHS North of Tyne. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 December 2013. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
  24. "Resident Update" (PDF). Newcastle Great Park. 20 May 2019. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  25. "Great Park Community Centre". Retrieved 28 August 2014.

Notes
  1. Quaylink Q3 serves Eldon Square Bus Station on journeys towards Wallsend.
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