Transport expert says closing off east Bristol roads ‘just scratching the surface’

A local transport expert has said that plans for a new liveable neighbourhood in east Bristol are “just scratching the surface” of changes needed.

This winter Bristol City Council will place bollards and planters on many roads in Barton Hill and St George as part of a new trial.

Rob Bryher, a Green campaigner and transport planner who works for the climate charity Possible, said the planned changes were “minuscule” compared to what Bristol needs, and raised fears the roll-out of the trial could face further delays.

Speaking as a local campaigner, in an interview he claimed concerns about the trial were overblown and most people would welcome the changes after a few months.

He added that cars driving through neighbourhoods can create a wedge between communities, blocking residents from talking to their neighbours and children playing on the streets.

Some Bristol residents have welcomed the trials and have said they hope they will reduce pollution, but other fear it could cause problems – image: Bristol City Council

Bryher said: “We’ve seen a massive rise over the last 20 or 30 years of the number of vehicles on the roads, and the impact of that is on places where a lot of cars don’t need to go. We have a lot of arterial roads where vehicles should predominantly be, and they shouldn’t be going through the centre of residential communities.

“There’s many reasons for that, but the main one is community severance. The more traffic that there is on the road, the less you talk to your neighbours, the less children play on the street, the less it feels safe.

“[Liveable Neighbourhoods] tackle traffic going through roads it doesn’t need to go through, in a really straightforward way that is easy to understand and keeps access for vehicles. It’s actually positive in pretty much every way.

“There have been reports that traffic increases slightly on the main roads, but usually after a time that settles down or it becomes less of an issue. Most people after the change comes in don’t feel that it’s a problem. It’s only when it’s being implemented that they have concerns, and then when they see it works they don’t say any more, and it goes away.”

Bristol City Council wants to turn parts of east Bristol into a liveable neighbourhood with less traffic – image: Bristol City Council

The plans have divided opinion among locals across the scheme area, which includes several different communities.

While it’s difficult to precisely tell where the support and opposition for the plans are, anecdotal feedback suggests more in favour in St George, a more affluent community that has recently seen gentrification, and some opposition in Barton Hill, which is statistically one of Bristol’s most deprived areas.

Bryher said: “It [the trial area] is a diverse area, and you’ve seen a difference in opinion between Barton Hill and St George.

“Anecdotally, the ones who have lived there all their lives are the ones who are probably more opposed to it, and the ones who have recently moved to the area are probably the ones who are more in favour of it.

But it’s not as polarised as people imagine. It’s not really a thing that people are fighting their neighbours over or getting upset about.”

More than a hundred people packed out a local community centre in early July for an anti-liveable neighbourhood meeting – photo: Mia Vines Booth

Earlier in July about 200 local residents gathered in a public meeting to hear about fears and concerns for the liveable neighbourhood.

The meeting was organised by Keep Bristol Moving, a new campaign set up to oppose the council’s plans, with support from Together which has fought similar schemes across the country as well as the ULEZ plan in London.

During that meeting, attendees raised a wide variety of concerns, including a lack of public consultation, negative impacts on local businesses, and delays to emergency services.

But Bryher claims opponents of the liveable neighbourhood are “belligerent” and should accept that cities inevitably change over time.

He said: “We never hear it characterised as these people being anti-clean air, anti-children’s safety, anti-cycling, when they are. They’re saying ‘we don’t want this to improve for people who don’t use cars, we want it to stay exactly the same’.

“We never hear it in that framing. It’s a very belligerent attitude towards any kind of change in the city. You will, if you live in a city, see great change. Over any point over the last 200 years, that is the case. Things change.

“I want there to be far fewer cars on the roads in Bristol, because that would be good for everyone. This very small change will make very little difference in most people’s day-to-day lives, they’ll just go a slightly different route to work.

“It’s a minuscule change in terms of the wider transport network, it’s just scratching the surface of what we have to do to reimagine our cities without cars.

“You can’t get past this built-in assumption that everything has to be built around this incredibly inefficient form of transport. Obviously there are people who need a car — people with disabilities, people who have a trade — but if we got rid of more cars, all those people would be able to get to where they’re going quicker.

“The notion that we all have to have a car is just outdated. Public transport is unreliable and overpriced, but it’s never going to get better if there’s loads of cars in the way. We’re just using the carrot and not the stick.”

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Read more: Dozens join anti-liveable neighbourhood meeting in Bristol

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Potential problems with the liveable neighbourhood plans, according to Bryher, include drivers struggling to find new routes through the area and further delays to the roll-out of the trial.

The council recently pushed back the start date from autumn to winter, promising a new round of public consultation before any bollards or planters are installed on the roads.

He said: “The thing that does frustrate me when these things are introduced is how slow Google Maps is. They don’t put in the changes. My concern about a trial would be that you can’t get stuff onto Google Maps if it’s only temporary. So there’ll be a lot of people using their sat navs, thinking why the hell can’t I get through this bit. At the beginning that’s going to be a problem, but then once people figure out where they’re going, it’ll be fine.

“My biggest concern about this is it’s just going to get delayed and delayed and delayed. In 2021, Labour said they would bring in two liveable neighbourhoods. With communities of interest, Barton Hill particularly, they should have just gone and knocked on doors.

“That’s the only fail-safe, foolproof way of making sure that people feel like they’re being listened to. If they had gone in early and done that, they wouldn’t have this situation now of open rebellion.

“Unfortunately the success of the scheme is severely compromised, because if you introduce one of these things in winter, for fairly obvious reasons the uptake of alternative modes of transport is not going to be as good, because the weather is worse, people don’t want to get on their bike.

“Do I think this thing will be implemented before the 2024 local elections? I would say no. The Labour administration said they were going to do two liveable neighbourhoods. But they haven’t even done a trial of the first one in three years.”

Alex Seabrook is a local democracy reporter for Bristol

Main photo: Bristol City Council

Read next:

• Residents of major rat-run show support for liveable neighbourhood plans
• Dozens join anti-liveable neighbourhood meeting in Bristol
• Through traffic to be banned in east Bristol ‘liveable neighbourhood’

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