{"id":614516,"date":"2025-12-05T20:30:46","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T20:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/614516\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T20:30:46","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T20:30:46","slug":"mosque-leader-says-muslims-disproportionately-impacted-by-liveable-neighbourhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/614516\/","title":{"rendered":"Mosque leader says Muslims \u2018disproportionately impacted\u2019 by liveable neighbourhood"},"content":{"rendered":"

A one-way system and parking restrictions are planned for the area home to Bristol’s oldest mosqueBristol’s Jamia Mosque in Totterdown(Image: Bristol Post \/ SWNS.com)<\/p>\n

A mosque leader has warned leading councillors that Muslims would be disproportionately impacted by plans for a liveable neighbourhood. Bristol City Council<\/a> is pressing ahead with controversial plans to roll out the South Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood<\/a>, including in Totterdown.<\/p>\n

The hilly neighbourhood south of Temple Meads, famous for its colourful houses, could soon get a one-way system. Totterdown\u2019s narrow streets are a pain for drivers to navigate and find a parking space, but the liveable neighbourhood aims to make this better with new restrictions.<\/p>\n

The Bristol Jamia Mosque is located on Green Street in Totterdown. The mosque opened more than half a century ago and was the first one in Bristol, and is also the only mosque south of the river. Hundreds of worshippers arrive every week for Friday prayers, who could be impacted by the proposed one-way system around Totterdown and the new permitted resident parking zone.<\/p>\n

Several locals warned councillors on the transport policy committee, about the impacts of the liveable neighbourhood, which also covers Southville and Bedminster<\/a>. Council staff are considering the responses to a recent public consultation, before revealing any changes to their designs. Any changes would start to be rolled towards the end of next year.<\/p>\n

\"AA map showing the changes to Totterdown(Image: Bristol City Council)<\/p>\n

Umran Iqbal, representing the mosque\u2019s management committee, said: \u201cThere\u2019s huge usage of the mosque in Totterdown and the Muslim community will be disproportionately affected by the current plans. We think the whole process should be stopped. We\u2019re willing and happy to work with the council to try and find something that is a suitable solution for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The committee also heard from other opponents of the scheme, who were concerned about the use of cameras on potential bus gates. These cameras would be used to catch drivers going through bus gates, by hitting them with fines, while allowing taxis, mopeds and buses to pass. Critics also said that many people need to drive to get to work or drop children off at school.<\/p>\n

Ken Fyfe, who lives in Southville, said: \u201cI went to one of the consultation events. The officer I spoke to was not interested in what I had to say. She didn\u2019t take a single note. She kept insisting on the importance of children being able to walk safely up Stackpool Road \u2014 but they can walk safely up Stackpool Road as it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leading councillors have faced questions about whether the strength of public opposition could scupper the whole scheme. While some measures, such as resident parking permits, are more popular, other parts of the plans, like the bollards and planters blocking some roads, are more controversial.<\/p>\n

Green Cllr Ed Plowden, chair of the transport committee, said: \u201cWe\u2019re looking very carefully at the feedback, we\u2019ll have another round of work to design things, we\u2019re actively considering changes, and I can\u2019t predict the future as to whether or not it will go ahead. There\u2019s a number of hoops still to go through.<\/p>\n

\"CllrCllr 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)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are people who are very keen on this idea and there are people who are dead against it. So we\u2019re trying to find a path through that which will attract sufficient support.\u201d<\/p>\n

One option suggested by opponents was splitting up the proposals. This would involve rolling out the resident parking permits, but scrapping the plans for \u201cmodal filters\u201d, i.e. bollards, planters and bus gates which block cars from driving through sections of certain streets. Pressed on whether this could be considered, the answer was unclear.<\/p>\n

Cllr Plowden said: \u201cThat\u2019s a really difficult question to answer. The simple answer would be \u2018yes\u2019, but if I say that then I may not be managing people\u2019s expectations well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also facing questions on the liveable neighbourhood was Green Cllr Tony Dyer, leader of the council, who on the same day was grilled by John Darvall on BBC<\/a> Radio Bristol. He said views on the plans were \u201cmore evenly spread than what\u2019s in the public domain\u201d, but admitted that the plans would be scrapped if it became clear that residents didn\u2019t want them to go ahead.<\/p>\n

Cllr Dyer said: \u201cWe are looking at the responses we\u2019ve received. We\u2019ve had nearly 5,000 responses with a range of being very supportive to very anti. However, whether the South Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood goes ahead is not pre-determined. We will be listening to what residents have to say.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if we\u2019re not satisfied with what we\u2019re going to be providing and the South Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood is not something that residents want, then we won\u2019t go ahead with that. If the South Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood elements do go ahead, they will be different from what\u2019s currently proposed, because they\u2019ll be based on feedback from local residents.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A one-way system and parking restrictions are planned for the area home to Bristol’s oldest mosqueBristol’s Jamia Mosque…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614517,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[192,10139,381,3893,748,393,4884,10750,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-614516","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bbc","9":"tag-bedminster","10":"tag-bristol","11":"tag-bristol-city-council","12":"tag-britain","13":"tag-england","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-southville","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115668864385023599","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}