Dozens join anti-liveable neighbourhood meeting in Bristol

More than a hundred people packed out a local community centre on a recent evening to show their support at an anti-liveable neighbourhood meeting.

Cries of “take back democracy”, “free our streets” and “the government is corrupt” could be heard from the crowd as panellists took turns to express their objections to Bristol City Council’s first liveable neighbourhood trial in east Bristol.

The meeting was organised by members of Bristol Somali Community Association, Barton Hill Activity Club, and Keep Bristol Moving – the latest addition to a growing vocal campaign against the trial.

Under the trial, several roads will be blocked off to motor traffic in a bid to make the streets safer to walk and cycle and reduce harmful air pollution.

The council’s east Bristol liveable neighbourhood will introduce a number of features including modal filters for cars, cycle lanes and one way systems – image: Bristol City Council

Locals in east Bristol object to the scheme on a number of grounds, including fears over ambulance and fire engine access, mobility rights, disabled access and the impact of the scheme on local businesses.

Speaking at the meeting, local resident Chris Johnson said: “It feels like the residents have been tricked by the council. Everything about this scheme has a strong smell of stealth about it.”

City Hall chiefs said they sent 6,500 surveys to local households and businesses, ran workshops and roadshows, sent out postcards, went door to door, displayed posters and visited schools.

1,554 people responded to the survey, and 541 comments were plotted on an interactive map by 225 contributors, as part of the first stage of engagement.

But residents of east Bristol insisted they were not consulted.

“People want better GP services and basic amenities, not liveable neighbourhoods,” a member of the audience added.

“I live in Barton Hill and there was a fire in my block two years ago. If the fire brigade couldn’t get there today I would be dead now,” said another elderly man.

A member of the disabled community added that the new Clean Air Zone scheme was costing her huge amounts to get to work.

The meeting was led by a panel made up of David “Syd” Lawrence, chair of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, Samira Musse from Barton Hill Activity Club, Charles Sterling from Bristol Design and Justyna Kowalska, a vocal campaigner against Bristol’s Clean Air Zone.

Ex-cricketer Syd Lawrence said the cycling lanes on Park Row were making it impossible for him to run his nightclub – photo: Mia Vines Booth

They were also joined by anti-LTN organisation, Together Declaration, who had offered to broadcast the meeting to a national audience and handed out anti-ULEZ placards to every attendee there.

Together Declaration’s enigmatic leader, Alan Miller, headed the meeting. Co-founder of London’s Old Truman Brewery, and the Night Time Industries Association, Miller has become a vocal opponent of low traffic neighbourhoods and plans to introduce ULEZ zones in London.

Miller made a rallying call to residents in east Bristol to “get organised” and urged them to oppose the scheme and fight back to “protect their rights”.

“We are here tonight and around the country to say we are not going to have this anymore,” said Miller.

“We don’t want shutdowns, we don’t want road closures, we don’t want to be told we are stupid.

“We’re fighting back what they are doing nationally with liveable streets, active travel and a national cyclist activist campaign.”

“They think they can keep imposing these cameras, fines and charges, and we are just going to roll over.”

“We have never agreed to give up our rights to mobility, and our rights to freedoms,” he said.

“We are not going back to feudal times. “We need to get organised. This is the beginning of something.”

Westbury-On-Trym conservative councillor Steve Smith was also in attendance at the meeting.

Addressing the crowd, he insisted it was possible to work with the council to stop liveable neighbourhoods, pointing to his ward’s residents’ success in stopping a council scheme there.

But he was met with criticism, with many shouting that they could not trust the politicians and the councillors.

Among those at the meeting was a resident of Beaufort Road, who was in support of the trial.

He said residents on his road had been crying out for a scheme like this, and he felt like the council was finally listening to his concerns about dangerous driving on the road.

He told the panel they needed to offer solutions to a very real problem, rather than shooting down the trial.

Keep Bristol Moving said it plans to continue holding meetings over the next few months until the council responds to the objections of residents.

Main photo: Keep Bristol Moving

Read more:

• Through traffic to be banned in east Bristol liveable neighbourhood
• Is Bristol gearing up to become a 15-minute city?
• Photo of Bristol’s sub-standard cycling infrastructure goes viral

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