A key access onto South Bristol’s ring road has finally reopened - but only after a local councillor went on Twitter to ask why it was closed in the first place.
Salcombe Road, which is one of the main access roads from Knowle West onto the A4174 ring road, has been closed on and off for a year or more, and was closed for the past few weeks. Some neighbours said they hadn't noticed works there during that time, but the council said the latest closure was to facilitate the installation of a sewer connection.
The closure at the Salcombe Road junction with Airport Road meant diversions for local residents, rush-hour gridlock at the few other junctions onto the ring road, and buses having to go all the way to Bamfield to avoid the area.
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The closure was in place because either side of the road are the two sides of Ikea’s BoKlok on the Brook development. With growing complaints from residents in Knowle West and Hengrove that the road was closed for no apparent reason, and causing ‘chaos’ at nearby junctions, Cllr Tim Kent took to Twitter to ask the city council and Ikea what was going on.
Within a day on Wednesday, the road miraculously reopened - just about an hour before Bristol Live's photographer arrived. Cllr Kent had asked: “Could you please explain why Salcombe Road has been closed for several weeks with no noticeable reason for this? It is diverting a major bus route and causing congestion.”
Cllr Kent even questioned whether Ikea had permission to close the road at all - the road closure order was not showing up on the council’s up-to-date map of roadworks. The very next morning, the road suddenly reopened, after weeks of being closed with residents reporting little or no activity on the closed section.
Bristol City Council tried to explain, saying that Ikea have an 18-month long closure order on that section of road, which effectively means they can close it when they like. “It was closed for a sewer connection to be installed for the new housing and did have a legal road closure on it,” a spokesperson said.
“It will be closed again at some point for new bus stops to be installed. Sorry for any inconvenience this has caused.”
Delays to the BoKlok project mean the specific dates when the road closures were needed are also now out of date. “The road closure would have been on when the closure was originally meant to have taken place last year,” a council spokesperson said.
“The system automatically puts them on at that time but unfortunately doesn't re-enter them if there are delays. The closure application lasts for 18 months so they can close the road anytime within that period with giving advanced notice on street and to us and public transport which they did,” they added.
Cllr Kent said this week’s events were ‘progress’. “I am pleased that they have now opened the road though. This is progress. Hopefully any future work can be done over a few days to reduce disruption,” he said.
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