“A clear majority of Southville did not want road blocks”SBLN Concerns group march on City Hall
Residents who organised a campaign against the idea of zoning the streets of Southville as part of a new Liveable Neighbourhood in South Bristol have thanked the council for listening to the community.
Council chiefs said they would drop the idea of installing ‘modal filters’ – planters which block the road to four-wheel vehicles – to create four separated traffic zones.
Bristol Live reported earlier this week that the city council would be simplifying the plans for the South Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood, after residents in Southville and Totterdown did not endorse the proposed project.
The end to the plans to divide Southville into four separate zones was welcomed by Liz Newton, who led a campaign among local residents against the idea, and she urged the council to go further.
“I would like to thank the council,” she said. “They claimed they would listen to the community, and I am delighted to see that they are showing that they can.
“The wording of the statement appears to me like there will be no modal filters in Southville, and I urge the council to confirm this. It has been a very stressful, frustrating and unsettling time for many in our community.
Liz Newton, right, with friend, who has started a petition against the South Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood’s plans for Southville. Pictured outside one of many South Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood consultation events, at the Southville Centre on Tuesday, September 30(Image: Bristol Post)
“I know that some of us have been more vocal than others with our concerns, but as was demonstrated in the consultation results, a clear majority of Southville did not want road blocks.
“I also am still frustrated to the core about the huge waste of public money that has been spent on this, especially when it became abundantly clear in the autumn that this scheme was not what the Southville community wanted,” she added.
READ MORE: Council drops most unpopular parts of South Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood plan
The man in charge of roads and transport in Bristol, Cllr Ed Plowden, said that while the idea of completely segregated traffic zones would be dropped, there still would be some ‘modal filters’ in Southville, but ‘many fewer’.
“We’re still committed to a liveable neighbourhood in Southville, but it’s going to have less modal filters,” he said. “We will still be putting in some modal filters or roadblocks, but many fewer,” he added.
Cllr Ed Plowden (Green, Windmill Hill) the chair of the city council’s transport committee, outside the South Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood consultation event in Totterdown(Image: Bristol Post)
With Cllr Plowden admitting that the council will now have to ‘go back to the drawing board’ on some elements of the SBLN, there is still uncertainty about what exactly the final plans will look like.
There is a meeting in the coming week of the transport committee Cllr Plowden chairs, with no definitive answers until the scheme is redesigned.
Labour leader Cllr Tom Renhard said the council had already earmarked up to £2m to work on the scheme, but the results of the consultation and survey showed they had started with an idea few people liked.
READ MORE: South Bristol road blocks plan based on ‘a big lie’ say analysts – here’s a break down of the claims
“So far, the Green-led council have spent up to £2million on the South Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood plans, with very little to show for it other than u-turn after u-turn,” Cllr Renhard said.
“To get buy-in for an ambitious project, the Council needed to bring people with them by clearly setting out what the problem is and why it needs to be fixed. With the scheme’s more controversial aspects, this has not been the case. Traffic monitoring data that has also been released seems to suggest that traffic volumes are very low on many of the roads in Southville, raising questions about the reasons some of these proposals have been brought forward in the first place.
(Image: Bristol City Council/YouTube)
“The aim of the road closures and one-way systems in the South Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood are to reduce through traffic in Southville and Totterdown respectively. The often steep, narrow streets of these neighbourhoods are not natural rat-runs, so residents have rightly been asking if drastic interventions to reduce traffic are needed or their consequences are desirable.
“This is reflected in the consultation results. Only 23 per cent of people agreed with the modal filters in Southville, and only 27% agreed with the plans for Totterdown. We thank residents for taking the time to make their voices heard. Such a strong rejection of the plans should mean the Greens’ approach of dividing up Southville is ditched entirely. However, it looks as if they are still set on splitting up the community regardless, against the wishes of its residents,” he added.
READ MORE: Protesters descend on City Hall as £1.3m to draw up plans for controversial traffic scheme approved
“The plans for North Street are sorely needed and very welcome, as are longer term plans for Coronation Road. We have been calling for these improvements for many months and have sought the administration’s support to fund vital road safety works there. Commonsense safety initiatives such as increasing the number of pedestrian crossings are sensible proposals which have our support,” he added.
Local residents are hoping the focus is on making improvements to North Street – where there have long been complaints about speeding traffic, few places to cross safely and a lack of infrastructure for cyclists.
The first plans for the South Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood in Southville saw the idea of modal filters to create four different traffic zones. This has been dropped after a survey showed it was unpopular(Image: Bristol Post)
“I would really welcome some improvements to North Street to make it safer to cross the road for pedestrians and encourage all road users to travel at slower speeds,” said Liz Newton.
“I was pleased to see that there are plans to put a School Street at Ashton Gate Primary School. However I am extremely frustrated that no plans were mentioned at Southville Primary School (Myrtle site) despite it being mentioned in the report. How loud do the Southville Primary community have to shout before they get one too?” she added.
READ MORE: Calls for new parking zones for Bedminster and Ashton Gate
Another focus of the survey was that parking is a huge issue in many parts of Ashton and Bedminster, and matchday parking schemes and RPZs are being brought forward.
Local Bedminster Labour councillor Emily Clarke said: “I’m pleased that a matchday parking scheme is being progressed. Residents have been waiting for this for too long. I look forward to seeing clear plans and timings for implementation.”