Bristol’s new ‘liveable neighbourhood’ scheme will come into force later this year in parts of East Bristol, with roads in Barton Hill, St George and Redfield all included. As part of the experimental scheme, residential streets in these areas will be banned for through traffic in a bid to make them safer for those living there.
It's hoped the project will make residential areas safer and encourage those living in the areas to use other ways of getting around instead of using their cars. Access will still be given to those living on the roads blocked to through traffic as well as delivery and emergency services vehicles, but all other transport will be banned.
A post talking about the scheme was shared on the Bristol page on Reddit, where it received over 200 comments, with many sharing their thoughts and concerns about the idea. The post sparked a long debate about the positives and negatives of the scheme and how it has worked in other cities.
Read More: Through traffic to be banned in parts of Bristol for ‘liveable neighbourhood’ scheme
One user commented: “As somebody who lives in the neighbourhood, I have mixed feelings. I sincerely want the godawful rat-running to stop and if it makes parking for residents more readily available that'll be lovely, but also I'm somebody who has to drive my car and often a work van for my job and BCC basically stick their fingers in their ears and shout " LALALALA " whenever that comes up, which doesn't fill me with confidence. It's also already very tricky and sometimes impossible getting large delivery vans down my street, so I'm nervous about adding more obstructions.”
They went on to say: “My biggest concern though is that the diverted through-traffic will be forced on to Church Rd which already has one of the busiest and most unsafe junctions in Bristol which BCC have never satisfactorily addressed.”
A second user wrote: “I live in this area and I won't lie, rat running is horrendous. Literally almost killed by a van doing 40 in a twenty coming back from the school run the other day. They’ve pedestrianised all the roads between Gloucester Rd and Muller pretty much for the same reason and it's safer, nicer and better for the families that live there. The traffic really hasn’t got that much worse because of it. Church Rd is an absolute nightmare anyway tbh how much worse could it really get?”
Other commenters pointed out that a similar scheme appears to work well in London but one claimed that while it works there, it is much bigger and has more frequent public transport services. They said: “In London there are 10-15 minute frequency buses, Underground services, overground services and a really high density of services. Bristol ain't quite there yet.”
Another added: “Public transport works in London, it doesn't in Bristol and the council have no capability to sort that out. It should stop people making unnecessary journeys at peak times though…”
More details on the scheme are expected to be announced some point this month.
What do you think of the scheme? Let us know in the comments below.
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