MORE than 300 people packed a hall last night to protest at the prospect of 600 homes being built on green belt land next to what is thought to be the oldest urban nature reserve in the UK.
The public meeting at Gosforth Civic Hall in Newcastle was called over the city council’s identification of land for housing off Salters Lane on the edge of the 150-acre Gosforth Park reserve.
The Natural History Society of Northumbria, which has managed the reserve since 1929, claims that development would have a catastrophic impact.
There was standing room only in the hall and people spilled out into the adjacent bar area.
As the meeting began local resident Joanne Smith presented more than 900 letters of protest to council director of planning Harvey Emms, who attended the meeting with head of planning Nicola Woodward.
“People are so furious about these plans,” Ms Smith told the council chiefs.
Ms Woodward told the meeting the housing proposal is part of the One Core Strategy being developed by Newcastle and Gateshead councils to guide development to 2030.
She said the current consultation on the core strategy “is about establishing the principle of development in these areas”.
“We have identified a lack of family housing in Newcastle in particular,” she said.
But James Littlewood, director of the Natural History Society of Northumbria, said: “Gosforth nature reserve is nationally important. It cannot be replaced. There are few such important wildlife sites in the UK’s major cities.
“This is an area loved by local people, who feel strongly about protecting it for future generations.
“One of the reasons Newcastle is a desirable place to live is because of places like Gosforth Park. In other forward-thinking cities wildlife corridors are protected.
“We are asking that the council, instead of doing something that is destructive and has angered people sufficiently for all of you to come tonight, do something that is welcomed and consider protecting in perpetuity the wildlife corridor from the Tyne, through Jesmond Dene and incorporating the open land from Gosforth Golf Course north to the open countryside.”
