A decision has been pushed back from March to July
Planters at the end of Beaufort Road as part of the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood(Image: Alex Seabrook)
The East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood will stay in place until at least the summer as a decision on making the project permanent was delayed. Bristol City Council is now aiming to decide in July on signing off the full business case, with some parts of the trial made permanent.
The controversial traffic scheme was billed as a six-month trial. After the last parts of the trial were installed, following delays due to protests, data began to be gathered in April last year. Then after six months, council staff started analysing its effects on roads and air pollution.
An extra £2.4 million for the project was approved by councillors on the transport policy committee. This money will be spent on making changes to the scheme and writing up a full business case, with a decision on what parts of the project will be made permanent due to be made in July. This decision was initially scheduled for March.
Green Councillor Ed Plowden, chair of the committee, said: “I’m sorry that it’s taking longer than we would like. We’re trying to align it with the mayor’s review of the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood. The fact of the matter is that we only have so much officer resource and they’re busy doing the TROs [Traffic Regulation Orders] and the full business case at the same time.
“It’s going to take a bit longer than I had anticipated. I’m sorry that I put a definite month on it, that was a mistake.”
He later added: “The public discourse since we announced the proposed changes seems to have been widely welcomed. That’s an example of all of us listening to the public.”
The council will consult the public about the latest planned changes, which were revealed in December. Some changes will be rolled out in April, such as removing bollards and planters on Victoria Avenue. Other changes will take longer to be installed.
The changes include moving the bus gate on Avonvale Road to Marsh Lane’s junction with Mildred Street, to allow a left turn from Marsh Lane onto Avonvale, improving access to the Wellspring Centre and Days Road. There would still be a bus gate across Avonvale Road, preventing access from Marsh Lane turning right onto Avonvale Road and in reverse.
The bus gate on Marsh Lane would be removed, improving access to Feeder Road, Barton Hill and St Philip’s Causeway. Bollards at Ducie Road Bridge and the Avenue would be replaced with camera enforcement, to help emergency services access the area more quickly, and enable exempt drivers, like taxis and disabled people with blue badges, to use these routes.
Melissa Topping, an anti-EBLN campaigner, said: “You’re prioritising cyclists over the disabled and children, with zero transparency. The bias is most dangerous on Blackswarth Road. You’re replacing a school-serving puffin crossing, which protects children with sensors, with a toucan crossing to link a cycleway. This mixes primary school children with fast-moving cyclists.”
Both puffin and toucan crossings are traffic-light-controlled ways for people to cross a road. Ms Topping claimed the trial was intended to be made permanent, and added that mobility scooters were prohibited from using bike lanes. Other anti-EBLN campaigners during the meeting questioned the science of climate change, claiming that “zero carbon is zero life on Earth”.
A third of local residents support the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood, while almost half oppose the scheme, according to independent polling. This surveyed a representative sample of the local population, receiving 296 responses — a “robust sample size” and “reliable snapshot” — with face-to-face interviews lasting 10 minutes.
Hundreds of locals emailed the council’s engagement team last year, with the biggest concern being a general increase in traffic. Blackswarth Road in particular topped specific concerns, and queues of traffic can often be seen struggling to get onto Church Road and Chalks Road.
The junction is notorious, as cars trying to turn right from Blackswarth Road onto Church Road have to wait for a gap in traffic in the oncoming direction from Chalks Road. This often means cars queueing up on Blackswarth Road, with few clearing the junction during the short time the lights are green. This junction is being reviewed and could soon change.
The polling found that 38 per cent said the scheme made walking and cycling safer. And support for the liveable neighbourhood was “significantly stronger” among people with a higher economic status, i.e. middle class people rather than working class. There was no clear link between which part of the area people lived and if they supported or opposed the scheme.