Isos Housing Group want to build 10 houses at Burnfoot Way – the last field on the Montagu Estate in Kenton.

The company have not yet submitted a planning application and have vowed they will keep around half the land as a playing field.

But residents say the development would leave their children with nowhere to play and the estate “with no visible greenery and little to no character”.

A petition opposing the proposals has attracted more than 500 signatures so far and locals packed into a public consultation meeting on Monday to express their concerns.

Joanne Little, 35, of Linskill Place, said: “We used to have a huge strip of green land on Montagu and now this is the only piece left – they’ve built on everything else and now they want to take this away from us.

“Children play on it regularly and we’re really keen to keep it as a safe space for them – removing it would have a massive impact on our community.

“There’s very little for kids to do so they need somewhere to play.”
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/montagu-estate-residents-beg-developers-11440860

Jimmy Douglas’s Citroen Berlingo was left a crumpled wreck after a Ford Fiesta slammed into it, trying to evade a marked patrol car.

He heard an explosion outside his home on Sunday night before squad cars and a police helicopter were deployed to trace an alleged runaway driver.

And when the retired gardener went to investigate outside his home on Bowfell Avenue, in Kenton’s Montagu Estate, Newcastle, he discovered the Astra embedded into his newly-bought mobility car.

It is thought two passengers in the car fled the scene on foot and were pursued by the helicopter. It’s unclear if they were caught.