Council chiefs have moved to close off a ‘hole’ in the ring of Clean Air Zone cameras around Bristol city centre after they had to turn one off to allow lorries to reach an industrial estate.
CAZ cameras have been installed at the end of Coronation Road in Bedminster - a spot that’s already in the Clean Air Zone - because the council has had to turn off cameras a few hundred yards away and create a diversion for drivers who shouldn’t pay the charges.
Last month, Bristol Live revealed the existence of a 230-yard stretch of Coronation Road which was both within the Clean Air Zone and not part of the zone at the same time. Now the council has confirmed what they’ve done to sort out this situation - amid concerns that the existence of a ‘hole’ in the CAZ ring of cameras could mean drivers of non-compliant vehicles might be able to access the city centre without being clocked by the CAZ enforcement cameras.
Read next: Clean Air Zone sees stretch of South Bristol road removed but only for 230 yards
What is the problem?
The complicated situation arose because the northbound side of Malago Road, the main A38 through Bedminster, is currently closed for two and a half years to allow the council to install the underground heat network system to the new Bedminster Green regeneration project.
That means the only access for drivers to the industrial estates and homes on and around Whitehouse Lane in Bedminster is to drive up to the River Avon and the Bedminster Bridge roundabout, and then either go back down Malago Road or to Whitehouse Lane off York Road. That meant the drivers of non-CAZ compliant vehicles - especially the vans and lorries who want to access Whitehouse Lane’s industrial units - would have to enter the Clean Air Zone, only because of the council’s decision to close Malago Road.
What is the council doing about it?
So the council has now confirmed its come up with a plan - to create a diversion route that does enter the Clean Air Zone, but only for 230 yards. The CAZ cameras will be switched off at the junction of St John’s Road and Coronation Road, just so the non-compliant drivers using the diversion won’t be photographed and made to pay the charge or be fined.
The official diversion takes non-CAZ compliant drivers into Bedminster, up Dean Lane, Catherine Mead Street and St John’s Road, past the entrance to the Asda supermarket, then onto Coronation Road at the St John’s Road junction, before being directed to turn off Coronation Road just 250 yards later onto New Charlotte Street - crucially, before the traffic reaches the Bedminster Bridge roundabout.
From New Charlotte Street, drivers will be directed down the side of Asda to Bedminster Parade, and then right onto the A38 and to the still-open southbound Malago Road, where they will be able to turn left into Whitehouse Lane.
The city council have gone to great lengths to create this diversion, and have even removed a section of the central reservation on Coronation Road to physically enable the right turn onto New Charlotte Street.
The council has also installed CAZ cameras at the Bedminster Bridge roundabout pointing up Coronation Road, to photograph all the vehicles entering the roundabout from the A370, even though most of them would have been photographed already, when they entered Coronation Road further back. This has been done to make sure there is not ‘a hole in the Clean Air Zone’ which drivers entering Coronation Road from St John’s Road might exploit by using that entrance to the CAZ knowing the cameras are switched off, but not taking the diversion off it again, and continuing into the city centre via Bedminster Bridge.
The knock-on effects
The diversion means that all the HGVs, lorries, vans and non-compliant vehicles heading for Whitehouse Lane’s industrial estates will have to be driven down Catherine Mead Street and St John’s Lane - something which has concerned the two local councillors for the area, Cllr Christine Townsend and Cllr Tony Dyer, who said they were representing people who live along Catherine Mead Street and St John’s Road who will have more polluting traffic than normal.
“We have been informed by officers that the temporary removal of this section of Coronation Rd from the CAZ does not allow for a gap in the zone,” they said in a statement. “Other cameras will pick up non-compliant vehicles within a short distance of this diversion route. The impact of diverting non-compliant trucks and HGV vehicles along the residential road of Catherine Mead Street is however something we do have serious concerns about and will be asking for close monitoring of,” they added.
What about Asda shoppers?
There is a further knock-on effect of the switching off of the cameras on Coronation Road outside Bedminster Asda. It means that, in theory, any driver heading out of Asda’s car park, turning left onto Coronation Road and immediately left again onto St John’s Road won’t be photographed by a CAZ camera for the short time they spend in the Clean Air Zone.
Shoppers at Asda Bedminster who drive non-compliant cars already have an entrance and exit route that doesn’t involve the CAZ - they can enter from St John’s Road before the camera junction, and exit onto New Charlotte Street and then down Malago Road.
At present, there are CAZ signs at the exit of the Asda car park onto Coronation Road. Bristol Live has asked Bristol City Council for confirmation that drivers won’t be fined if they do exit that way, and are awaiting a response.
Read next:
- Where the borders for the scheme will fall street by street
- When will the CAZ charges operate
- Clean Air Zone start date finally announced
- Clean Air Zone fee and how people will be charged
- Bristol Clean Air Zone timeline: the story so far as start date finally announced
- Thousands of drivers 'caught' in Clean Air Zone every day in council test
- Camera error sends Clean Air Zone warning letters to drivers who've never been to Bristol
- Clean Air Zone and underground metro will make cycling safer claim council chiefs
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