Newcastle City Council

General Info

South Heaton is made up of several distinct neighbourhood areas including:

• Addison Grafton and Ringtons estates (North of Shields Road)
• The Avenues (First to Tenth Avenue)
• Railway Terraces 
• Heaton Terraces

South Heaton has a number of facilities to support the local community. The main green space in the ward is Iris Brickfield Park but residents have good access to nearby Heaton Park.
There are Children Centre services operating from Heaton Community Centre and a range of community activities from other local volunteer run  community facilities including Charles Street Community Centre and East End Community Centre.
The ward is served by 3 primary schools, Chillingham Road Primary School and also Ravenswood Primary and St Teresa's RC Primary close to the ward boundaries.
There are main shopping areas at Shields Road and Chillingham Road as well as the retail park on the Fossway.
East End Pool and Library and Customer Service Centre are conveniently located on Shields Road offering a range of council services to local residents.
The ward also offers a number of supported accommodation facilities for older residents including Belvedere, Jack Common, Theresa Russell, Northfield and Southfield House.

Whats Going On....

Winter Festival 2011

Created and developed by newcastle gateshead Initiative the winter festival will add some warmth to the cold winter evenings and sprinkle a bit of magic across newcastle gateshead at this special time of year.  For more details visit Newcastlegateshead.com/winterfestival

Decent Neighbourhood Standards

Every neighbourhood in Newcastle will be brought up to a decent standard under a new set of proposals by the city council. 

The council, with residents, wants to create its own Decent Neighbourhoods Standard to ensure consistently good services in each of the city’s 26 wards, with services such as street cleaning, graffiti removal and bin collection being constantly monitored and improved.

Residents who would like to make their views known should visit http://www.letstalknewcastle.co.uk/consultations/index/13 and take part in an online survey.

Have your say….Shaping the Future of NewcastleGateshead One Core Strategy and Urban Core Action Plan Consultation

The One Core Strategy sets out the vision, strategic objectives and key policies relating to economy, retail, environment, transport, health, sustainable communities (including new housing provision) and climate change for delivering future development across Gateshead and Newcastle until 2030.

In addition the Urban Core Area Action Plan (UCAAP) will set out the spatial strategy for the future of the urban core of NewcastleGateshead and its function at the heart of the city region. This will be a twenty year strategy for change.

The consultation runs from 4 October to 4 January 2012. During this time the Council will be hosting a series of Let’s Talk drop in sessions across the city to provide residents with an opportunity to ask officers questions. A full list of the sessions can be found here (pdf, 508KB).

Draft Budget Proposals for consultation

The draft budget proposals are now available for consultation. You can view the proposals at http://www.newcastle.gov.uk/news-story/a-fair-budget-a-fairer-city

Latest South Heaton developments

South Heaton In Bloom 2011

This years gardening competition has now been judged.  Winners will be presented with their prizes by the Sherriff of Newcastle at the Garden and Allotment Show in Civic Centre on Sunday 11 September 2011.

Our gardening workshops around the ward this year have been very successful and has resulted in an increase in entries to the competition of 300%.  Thank you to all everyone who has taken part and to all the gardeners out there who continue to contribute to making South Heaton Greener!

Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food Comes to South Heaton

Want to learn how to make tasty, simple meals on a tight budget? Jamie Oliver believes that its fun, cool, can save you money, and can help you live a healthier life.  Courses are available at:

Heaton Community Centre, Trewitt Rd  - Saturdays from 11 June 10am - 11.30 am

£5 per session. All ingredients supplied and you take home everything you cook!  For more information and to book call 07835 836 193 or contact East End Health, 28 Hawthorn House, Heaton Road, Byker, NE6 1SD. E mail: eastendhealth.org.uk.

NEXUS removes first metro ticket machine to make way for new

Nexus, which owns, manages and is modernising Metro, has removed the first ticket machine from the Metro system in more than 30 years, paving the way for the state-of-the-art new machines to be installed.

Nexus plans to replace 225 Metro ticket machines during 2011. The new ticket machines will be capable of accepting coins, bank notes and credit and debit card payments – making life much easier for Metro users.

The project is the first phase of the Metro modernisation work. Nexus is spending £15m on ticket machines and on the installation of ticket barriers at 13 key stations, similar to those on the London Underground.

The first ticket machine to be removed was at Byker Metro station in Newcastle. Local South Heaton Ward councillors Henri Murison and Christopher Bartlett were on hand to help out.

South Heaton Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan Update

In order to deliver climate change action at a local level in the South Heaton ward a multi agency pilot project called the South Heaton Carbon Challenge was created with the aims of identification of the main sources of carbon emissions from the South Heaton ward and to identify and deliver carbon reduction projects with a particular focus on community buildings and domestic emissions.  To date a range of energy saving projects have been completed, including the provision of energy advice, energy surveys, energy efficency work to Chillingham Road Primary School and Heaton Commmunity as well as the Free Loft and Cavity Wall insulation project delivered in partnership with Newcastle Warmzone.

Read the latest South Heaton Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (298kb) here

For more Information on South Heaton Free Cavity Wall and Loft Insulation Ring Warmzone on 0191 277 7373  

Heaton Community Centre

Work has now been completed to develop and refurbish the building to improve access to childcare facilities at the centre. In conjunction with these works are improvements to energy efficiency and reducing carbon involving a new energy saving heating system and solar hot water. South Heaton Ward Committee have contributed to the project with funding from its Capital Investment fund in line with its Neighbourhood Charter ward priorities.  This work should help to improve the the community centre's sustainability for future years.

Historic South Heaton

Heaton means “high settlement” and refers to the position of this area above the River Tyne. In the 12th century Heaton became part of the Barony of Robert de Gaugy on the order of King John. The King stayed in the castle at Heaton (the remains of which can still be seen in Heaton Park) on a number of occasions.

By the 18th century, Heaton was a coal mining area with many of its collieries owned by the Ridleys. Richard Ridley built Heaton Hall as a home for his family.

Heaton estate was broken up when the area became officially incorporated into the city of Newcastle Upon Tyne. Much of the land was owned by Amourer Donkin, who on his death in 1857 bequeathed the land to his business partner, the industrialist Sir William Armstrong.

In 1879 Lord Armstrong gave the Heaton Hall estate to the city as a public park. He also donated Armstrong Park and Jesmond Dene. The three parks run into each other and form a green corridor through east Newcastle. Another green area in this locality is Iris Brickfield, a popular green space for local residents which includes allotments. This area is named after the wife of one of the owners of the brickworks which used to stand there.

Heaton Hall itself remained for a few more years before being demolished in the early twentieth century to make way for new housing. This became Heaton Hall Housing Estate.  

The area became increasingly residential with much of the terraced housing being built between1880-1910. The southern end of Heaton was a major thoroughfare from Newcastle to North Shields and the coast, via tram, road and rail. During the later decades of the 19th century the terraces of the residential suburb of Heaton began to fill the fields on both sides of the railway.  

Third Ave was the home of the Ringtons Tea empire and which is still operating today from buildings on Denmark Street.