On Thursday 12 February, Full Council will debate a Labour budget amendment that would see £900,000 redirected away from developing the Full Business Case for the controversial South Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood (SBLN) and instead invested into other road safety and active travel initiatives in the area. The planned Matchday Parking Scheme, which has long been asked for from local residents and Labour councillors, would still progress.
The draft plans for the SBLN, particularly the modal filters, have proved controversial. At the time of writing, over 3,000 people have signed a petition which states ‘We believe the current proposals risk causing serious disruption to everyday life, especially for older residents, disabled people, and those on lower incomes’, calls for the plans to halt and for the council to consider alternative road safety measures.
Labour members of the Transport Committee concur with the sentiment, believing the council should focus on commonsense improvements to the BS3 area, dropping controversial, divisive plans for roadblocks, which are often referred to as ‘modal filters’.
Councillor Tom Renhard, Leader of Bristol Labour, said:
“The public have demonstrated there is not enough support to justify ‘modal filters’ in Southville and Windmill Hill. Many say it will be disruptive to their day-to-day lives, and many more think it’s unnecessary.
“Residents want what’s best for their community. Concerns that have been raised are far from ideological – they are well-informed and reasonable. As it stands, the plans are, at best, very divisive. I remain concerned that installing roadblocks in a neighbourhood that already has relatively low levels of traffic will create more challenges than it solves. We have also seen further traffic monitoring taking place in recent months, which should have happened prior to the proposals that were put to the public in September last year.
“The £900,000 allocated towards a business case for progressing this scheme would be better spent on other measures to promote active travel and improve road safety in the BS3 area. For example, it could be spent on safety improvements on North Street – which currently is set to have more traffic funnelled down it if the Southville modal filters go ahead; segregated cycle lanes; or improvements to the cycling infrastructure on Coronation Road. Whatever the money is spent on, it should be guided by the community’s voice.
“We’ve already seen attempts to sideline local people. The Green Party Chair of the Transport Committee initially blocked a petition against the road closures from being heard, despite it being submitted ahead of the deadline and meeting the threshold for signatures. This cannot be allowed to set a bad precedent. Local people’s views must be put first. We need a bottom up, not a top-down process. It’s time to go back to the drawing board and co-design solutions with residents.”
Councillor Tim Rippington, Transport Lead for Bristol Labour, said:
“Bristol has often been criticised as a city which consults its citizens but then doesn’t listen to the results. Residents in Southville have made it clear that, even where they are keen cyclists or frequent walkers, they do not support the plans to segment their area and make it more difficult to move around when they need to use a car.
“We think the council needs to listen to these concerns, which is why we ensured that the recent petition was debated at the Transport Committee at the earliest opportunity. Following this debate, and having listened to local residents, we are calling on the council to drop the plans to close off roads and use the money instead to fund measures which will improve the area whilst not breaking it up into silos.”
Link to the SBLN petition – https://www.change.org/p/stop-southville-roadblocks