Decision due on making East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood trial permanent
Councillors will meet to discuss the scheme this week
A decision is due next week on turning the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood trial into a permanent scheme. This would involve installing dropped kerbs, upgrading a notorious junction and installing new pedestrian crossings across Barton Hill, Redfield and St George.
Since the trial was launched, traffic in the area has reduced on most roads and more people are walking and cycling. But two roads have become much busier and the trial has faced criticism from some local residents for making driving around their neighbourhood much harder.
Councillors on the transport policy committee will decide whether to make the scheme permanent on Thursday, July 9. It’s unclear which way the vote will go, as the liveable neighbourhood has been controversial and the pro-EBLN Greens don’t have a majority.
Green Councillor Ed Plowden, chair of the transport committee, said: “While we hear the voices of people who have found the EBLN trial challenging, it’s allowing children to travel more independently to school, has created quieter streets where people feel more comfortable spending time outside, and is helping to support healthier, more active communities.
“Making the EBLN permanent would allow us to move beyond temporary measures and invest in lasting improvements, including new crossings, more planting, and making some key junctions work better.”
Even if the committee votes to make the scheme permanent, there is still another hurdle. The council would submit a full business case to the West of England Combined Authority, asking for £6.4 million to make the changes needed. The Labour West of England mayor, Helen Godwin, previously blocked the council’s plan to ban through-traffic from Park Street to speed up buses.
The East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood is a series of bollards, planters and bus gates that prevent cars from driving through residential roads, but allowing bicycles, taxis, buses and scooters to still pass through. Its aim is making the streets safer and encouraging more people to walk, cycle, scoot or get the bus instead of driving.
If the scheme is made permanent, the temporary planters and bollards would be swapped for “high-quality paving and street design”, and new trees would be planted. The junction of Church Road with Blackswarth Road and Chalks Road would be changed, making routes simpler for people driving in and out of the scheme area.
This junction often sees long tailbacks of cars, which have worsened since the trial began. The changes include allowing a left turn from Blackswarth Road onto Church Road and a right turn for drivers coming up east from Church Road onto Blackswarth Road.
Cllr Plowden added: “These long-term improvements, using high quality materials that are built to last, will lock in these positive changes to travel behaviour, improve air quality and road safety, making sure the benefits of a Liveable Neighbourhood are widely felt by residents.”
The council began talking to local residents about the scheme back in the first half of 2022, and then shared the plans for a trial in 2023. Bollards, planters and bus gates were installed from late 2024 until spring last year. Then surveys were carried out late last year to assess the trial’s effects and the views of local residents, and changes to the trial were made from April to June.