Millions of pounds from developers could be used to create a new ‘liveable neighbourhood’ in South Bristol, if the idea from a local councillor is included in the council’s budget next week.
The proposal would cover much of Bedminster, Ashton and Southville and involve a whole series of measures to reduce rat-running by drivers in residential streets, improve conditions for pedestrians and cyclists, and make public transport more accessible.
But the man behind the project said the idea is not to close off car drivers from accessing anywhere, just to make the traffic more manageable across the whole area.
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Green Party councillor Tony Dyer, who represents Southville, is asking for Labour Mayor Marvin Rees to amend the budget being brought to the council at City Hall next Tuesday. He wants to use £800,000 leftover from a £10 million grant to Bristol from the West of England Combined Authority to create two ‘liveable neighbourhoods’ in Bristol. Only one has been created so far, and he wants the second to be in BS3.
“This will only work if it’s designed by the people who live in Bedminster, Ashton and Southville, rather than done to them by the council,” said Cllr Dyer. “Recently, the council wanted to close off a couple of roads to traffic and that was unpopular because everyone could see it was just going to move the traffic somewhere else and make conditions in a different road worse.
'People living in rat runs'
“This isn’t about closing off any area to traffic or stopping people from getting anywhere, it’s just about breaking it up a bit to make traffic more manageable, while at the same time acknowledging that this area has got the main A38 road in from the rest of South Bristol passing through it. We need to work together to make changes that make it so people living in residential roads aren’t living in rat runs, but at the same time be mindful that people in the rest of South Bristol and North Somerset commute to work through this area,” he added.
Cllr Dyer said the area covered by the liveable neighbourhood could be as large as most of BS3 - and run from the Winterstoke Road flyover and Winterstoke Road itself, down to Parson Street, across Bedminster to St John’s Road and up to the river.
“We need to acknowledge there are problems with traffic, transport and the roads already, but adding in to that, this area is going to see about 6,000 new homes built in the next few years, and a lot of those people will want to have cars and drive around.
“Often it’s just little interventions that make a difference, to create better road systems for people who live there. But everything that is done has to be looking at the wider context of the whole area, because it’s no good doing something in one part of Bedminster which will adversely impact people living in another part,” he added.
In other parts of the country, liveable neighbourhoods involve a huge range of different changes to the streetscape - everything from general traffic calming measures to discourage through-traffic from using residential streets as rat runs, to breaking up driving lines with planters, creating effective cul-de-sacs by blocking off one end of a road, cycle lanes, bus lanes and pedestrianising some areas.
It is an initiative that has been suggested in BS3 before - but only on certain streets in Southville which were suggested to be closed off at one end with planters. Those designing liveable neighbourhoods have to balance the desire of residents to stop commuters using their streets as rat-runs, making their residential streets nicer to walk and cycle in, while at the same time making sure those same residents can still drive around their own neighbourhood to access the wider road network.
Earlier this year, Bristol Live reported that one of the roads in BS3 - the Parson Street gyratory - had the second worst air quality in Bristol - with pupils at Parson Street Primary School campaigning for drivers to turn off their engines while waiting at the lights outside their school.
Cllr Dyer said if the project is done right, it would take years. “It needs to be done by the people who live here, not imposed by the council. And that takes time. I think it could be two years before we get a plan together to make a business case for the rest of the money to do it. The alternative is having all these new homes onto a road network that is already congested."
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The money for the plan as a whole could come from developer contributions and other transport-related funds. Last year, Bristol Live reported that only a fraction of the millions of pounds of Community Infrastructure Levy from the developers building the ‘Bedminster Green’ regeneration scheme could end up being spent in Bedminster - and Cllr Dyer said this is an attempt to get some of that back into BS3.
“In January 2022 WECA allocated £10m to Bristol for two liveable neighbourhoods. However the Labour administration have only brought forward plans for one, and used most of the remaining money for relatively low level street changes instead. This amendment would use remaining funds – money not allocated to anything else – to help develop a liveable neighbourhood as originally intended in South Bristol, in the BS3 area also sometimes called Greater Bedminster.
“Greater Bedminster is just outside the Clean Air Zone, has a key strategic route (the A38), and over the next 10 to 20 years this part of Bristol will see some of the highest levels of development anywhere in the city. In my own ward of Southville the number of homes is expected to almost double. With limited street space, parking and traffic are already problems for many residents here – so work needs to start soon to support both existing communities and future residents.”
'Safe, accessible and pleasant'
“Local people have been asking for action on traffic and parking for some years now,” he added. “By developing a liveable neighbourhood in South Bristol as originally planned, we can deliver streets that are safe, accessible and pleasant places to be, boost the local economy, and improve people’s health and quality of life, reducing air pollution and traffic incidents. By making it easier to walk and cycle a liveable neighbourhood here could also reduce traffic in other parts of Bristol.
“This is a great opportunity to deliver changes that are desperately needed in South Bristol at no extra cost – we really need to just get on with it!” he said.
Read more:
- South Bristol's GPs and schools won't cope with 12,000 new homes claims MP
- Bristol GP group responds to patients' frustration amid 'challenging' pressures
- Calls for £8m Bedminster Green council cash to go to NHS
- Bedminster Green by numbers - the 5 plots that will transform South Bristol
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