Is Bristol gearing up to become a 15-minute city?

On Chelsea Road in Easton, cars line the pavements, making it difficult for parents with pushchairs to pass. On bin day, it becomes virtually impossible.

The two-way street barely fits one car and cyclists have to navigate the narrow bends and heavy vehicles that race down the road.

It’s an area of constant irritation for the locals, who want to live in a neighbourhood with safer streets, less traffic and less pollution.

This could be a reality one day however, with a new vision to transform the street as part of a wider liveable neighbourhood scheme for the area.

A new vision could see Chelsea Road transformed into a liveable neighbourhood area – photo: Mia Vines Booth

An image of what Chelsea Road could like like as a car-free street – image: We Are Possible

Local transport campaigner, Rob Bryher, has been helping put together the vision for the east Bristol road. He’s been holding a series of public consultations, and the response has been surprisingly positive.

Bristol24/7 met with Rob at No12 in Easton, a small coffee shop nestled between Chelsea Road and St Mark’s Road.

Rob has been an advocate of liveable neighbourhoods for some time, an offshoot of its more radical parent scheme, the 15 minute city.

The idea behind a 15 minute city is that all one’s necessities and services, such as work, shopping, education, healthcare, and leisure can be easily reached by a 15-minute walk or bike ride from any point in the city.

The end goal is to reduce carbon dependency, improve accessibility, reduce congestion and improve the overall quality of life for city dwellers.

The concept originally came about as a response to the increasing urbanisation of cities at the expense of local communities.

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Read more: ‘Liveable neighbourhoods will improve the lives of Bristol’s children’

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Jane Jacobs’ pivotal 1961 book The Death and Life of Great American Cities looked at the ‘highway-ification’ of cities in America, as car-centric urban planning uprooted communities, creating huge environmental disparities within the urban diaspora.

15 minute cities have gained traction within the last year, not least as an attractive response to an impending climate crisis, but also as a way to reconnect communities after a global pandemic, and within an increasingly disconnected digital age.

But a growing movement believes the concept is akin to “an open air prison”, ushering in an era of mass surveillance and creating the “ghettoisation “ of cities, in which people’s freedoms are taken away.

Rob has observed the national debate around the concept explode into a vicious culture war, one increasingly marred by far-right attacks and perplexing conspiracies.

The idea is a lot more simple however, said Rob.

“It’s about presenting different options for a community like stopping traffic on one road, and putting in a pocket park on another.”

Rob’s consultations are based on the idea that these urban areas should be planned by and for the community that lives there, which in the case of Chelsea Road, includes Rob himself.

The father of two holds up his neighbourhood of Easton as an example of what the beginnings of an urban space built around the community could look like.

“We have two small high streets, so pretty much everything I need is on those two roads,” he said.

“I have lots of cafes, two or three pharmacies, easy access to convenience stores, a couple of independent supermarkets, but also doctors services, schools.

“So pretty much everything is within 15 minutes, which is a real privilege to be in that situation. It’s much harder for people who live in central Bristol. But the benefits are really great. We forget that we have all this stuff on our doorsteps.

“I can get to a bus stop on Stapleton Road in four to five minutes, I can get to a train station in about a minute, and there is bike parking and e-scooters everywhere. It does feel like a sustainable location.”

But this doesn’t mean more needs to be done to make the neighbourhood safe and accessible for all, something his Chelsea Road consultations have particularly illuminated.

“In the consultations we got a real understanding of what communities in the neighbourhood think,” said Rob.

“Chelsea Road has a lot of problems, there’s double parking on both sides, it’s two ways but only enough space for one and a half vehicles, pavement parking, large vehicles coming through and waste issues.”

“The Car Free project aimed to give people a blank canvas to imagine a world without cars. The aim of the final vision is to stir the administration in Bristol and get popular support.”

Rob stands in the middle of Chelsea Road, holding an image created by We Are Possible, a national climate charity looking to change the way society sees urban space – photo: Mia Vines Booth

Rob believes the future is bright for 15 minute neighbourhoods, and headway is being made in Bristol.

Petitions to ban pavement parking, integrate segregated cycle lanes and roll out liveable neighbourhoods are gaining traction in Bristol, and local transport campaigners and councillors are increasingly lobbying for the implementation of liveable neighbourhoods.

Liveable neighbourhoods are typically areas that are people-centred, safe, healthy, inclusive and with special emphasis on air quality and reliable transport.

Two new liveable neighbourhoods for south Bristol were approved in a council budget meeting in February, and plans to halt traffic have already been signed off for a liveable neighbourhood scheme in east Bristol.

A liveable neighbourhood trial is particularly significant for the area of south Bristol, a large proportion of which remains outside of the Clean Air Zone, and as a result, has seen an increase in traffic and pollution levels since the scheme’s implementation earlier this year.

It’s clear that liveable neighbourhoods are becoming increasingly popular, but an equally vocal movement against them is also growing.

The vote in favour of two schemes in south Bristol came just days after two separate demonstrations outside a council meeting in Bath and a street protest in Oxford over each council’s respective plans for liveable neighbourhoods.

Some criticism is valid. Many businesses are worried that the scheme could cut off customers who travel from further afield, or vice versa, make it harder for them to deliver goods to these customers.

In Easton, owners of businesses like Sweetmart have been cautious of calls to implement a liveable neighbourhood scheme here, where the pedestrianisation of St Mark’s Road could have long-lasting effects on the street’s businesses.

St Mark’s Road in Easton has so far batted away a number of plans for pedestrianisation by local councillors and campaigners – photo: Martin Booth

But there is also a more insidious opposition, fuelled by conspiracy theorists and bolstered by far-right politicians like Nick Fletcher.

“It’s part of the culture war,” said Rob, when asked where he thinks this backlash has come from.

“Nick Fletcher called 15 minute neighbourhoods a socialist utopia. It riles people on the right, and convinces them it’s a big plot.

“People think they won’t be able to leave and they will be imprisoned. It’s a fundamental misunderstanding and plays into some of the stuff we have already heard about with liveable neighbourhoods and low traffic neighbourhoods – it’s seen as a massive inconvenience.

“It’s also this idea that emergency services are affected, even though the statistics suggest otherwise.

“So like many things, there is one side saying “this is going to destroy our livelihoods and our businesses” when in fact it would do the opposite, it would create more opportunities for small businesses.”

Despite some opposition here, protests like the one that took place in Oxford haven’t reached Bristol yet.

Rob believes this is because plans to implement 15 minute cities in Bristol have not been ambitious enough, and have also been localised in areas with little opposition.

Much of Cotham Hill is now pedestrianised – photo: Bristol Design

The response to the pedestrianisation of Cotham Hill and Princess Victoria Street in Clifton over the lockdown period was largely positive for example, and both schemes have since remained.

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Read more: Cotham Hill pedestrianisation praised by Active Travel England

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Interestingly, some have criticised the implementation of liveable neighbourhood schemes in predominantly white, middle class areas.

“I think that’s true,” said Rob. “But it is usually because those places are more positively in favour of the changes.

“But different communities need different approaches. Some communities don’t feel listened to, and that people are coming into the community and changing it, and I have a lot of sympathy for that.”

This could change with more investment in areas previously deprived of funding, and consultations with these communities in these areas are ongoing.

In April, there will be a business case put forward to WECA for the east Bristol liveable neighbourhood scheme.

“I’m sure there will be some backlash. Things will never be popular with everyone,” acknowledged Rob.

It’s not clear how far Rob’s plans will become a reality, but he remains hopeful, and despite a small but vocal minority rallying against calls for 15 minute cities, one thing is clear: liveable neighbourhoods are here to stay.

The challenge must now be to ensure they are designed by and for the communities they are intended to serve.

Main photo: Mia Vines Booth

Read next:

• Is Bristol’s clean air zone far-reaching enough to tackle air pollution?
• ‘The council is creating a city which will be unliveable in the climate crisis’
• Area next to Cabot Circus transformed in new car-free billboard
• How has the pandemic affected Bristol’s traffic and air pollution?

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