(28 Oct 2023, 11:48 pm)Storx wrote Ah just realised those weird block houses off Portsmead Road aren't, always thought they were. Similar to some where I live and they are up here.
It's a strange area as it's very similar to Stakeford and the West end of Ashington in terms of housing. The only difference is one can somehow manage 3 buses an hour with investment every other year and is actually above pre Covid levels and the other doesn't have anything.
I don't really sell of the car excuse anyway tbh. Cramlington can somehow manage a bus service and so can Kingston Park with it's 4 express buses an hour and that's all 1970's/1980's car in mind housing or Ponteland and it's 2 BPH.
Density of course I agree, running 4 BPH to Consett via a bunch of villages is always going to have it's problems, but these are pretty much urban and sub urban routes areas throughout.
Gonna reply in the other thread as it fits there better.
Ah, Portmeads. Not sure what the status of them are now.
I know they were built as temporary pre-fabs when work was being done on the homes in Kibblesworth.
But there is a canny high car ownership along there. Portmeads Road was actually a dead-end until recently (25/30 years ago), when they opened it up to connect to Fell Bank and eventually Mount Pleasant Road when that was built.
Getting back to your main point, it has an OK service compared to a lot of that side of Birtley. Far from good enough and clearly not offering the public any real choice. Particularly when you look at the major employment or retail options and how easy it is to get to them via car vs public transport.