Anti-speeding activists in a Bristol suburb are urging the council to help them solve the 'scary' speeding issue in their neighbourhood. A group of residents from the Lockleaze branch of community union Acorn have carried out a year-long campaign to improve road safety in their area, but they say that their promise of a meeting with a Bristol City Council cabinet member to discuss road improvements has been ignored.
The residents say that the council’s transport chief Don Alexander has not yet met with them to discuss how they can make their streets safer, even though he promised to do so when they met with him in September of last year, they claim. However, the councillor says that such infrastructure projects take years and that holding another meeting will do nothing to solve the problem.
The residents' petition for more traffic calming measures and for the council to introduce a long-term strategic plan to stop speeding has reached 292 signatures, and their campaign has seen the mums and kids of Lockleaze delivered 100 handwritten letters addressed to Cllr Alexander straight to City Hall. But they say there have been no concrete measures introduced in Lockleaze yet. And according to those who live there, the constant speeding has made the neighbourhood very unsafe.
Read more: Children demand action on the road danger in Bristol's fastest-growing area
Hannah Blaszczyk, who lives on Landseer Avenue, says that when she moved to Lockleaze three years ago she "could not believe" how bad the speeding was. "It is a consistent problem, it's not just one or two incidents. I kind of joke with my partner that it's like Formula One outside," she told Bristol Live.
She says that she regularly sees people driving over the speed limit of 20mph on her road, and she estimates that 40 per cent of motorists in the area drive faster than 40mph - while some go even quicker. "I have seen a guy travelling at 30pmh and clearly it wasn't fast enough for the guy behind him, because he overtook at about 50mph and mounted the kerb while kids were cycling along it.
"Dust and rock was thrown all over the place - that was really, really scary." She is particularly frightened for the young children who play on the green spaces in front of her house.
"The number of times me and my partner have been watching or doing gardening out the front, and my heart's sunk because I'm terrified something terrible is going to happen and were going to see something really bad, because some of them are quite young kids and they don't really think about crossing the road safely," she said.
It's not just Hannah - another local, Gabriela Nagyova, shares the same concerns. She lives on Brangwyn Grove, which has an entrance to Stoke Park Primary School, while Trinity Academy sits just behind the street.
She says that, because of the excessive speeding, she worries about the pupils walking to and from school. "It's not safe, and we have two schools around here, and quite a lot of kids going there, sometimes in groups.
"And you know how kids are when they're in a group, they're not exactly paying attention to the road," she said. They say that a meeting with Cllr Alexander would be a step towards improving road safety, but they have not been able to arrange one despite trying for months.
Recently, they invited the cabinet member to a meeting again and gave him a deadline of March 18 to respond, but he did not reply to them. However, Don Alexander says that he is "very busy" and that measures to solve speeding problems like this can take years rather than months and weeks.
"I've taken on board what they said to me but given the timeline of transport projects, there's nothing new to say to them given transport projects tend to take years rather than weeks and months. Coming to see me again would do nothing to add to it," he said.
He added that the council has put things in place to address transport in Lockleaze and said: "We are working in various areas of Lockleaze, but it's months and years to do infrastructure projects, not weeks". He also said that in terms of speeding, he told Lockleaze residents in September that they should report law breakers to the police.
"It's not short term to change infrastructure, the short term solution is to go to police and tell them people are breaking the law," he said. But Hannah said that until another discussion between residents and the council happens, the problems will persist.
"He's the guy with the power to make the changes and to actually advise us of what workable things could be put in place. We don't work in that field so we don't know, and why should we frankly know how the system works. He originally agreed to meet with us but despite several attempts to arrange the meeting he basically fobbed us off."
But Adrian Andrew, another resident, says he is hopeful they can solve the problems that they have in Lockleaze. "I'm always hopeful, I do believe the best in people, and when you go into public service like that you do you do it for good reasons, We will keep on doing things to get his attention until he does come and meet us," he said.
A spokesperson for Bristol City Council said: "A number of transport initiatives have been approved to meet the needs of new homes being built following investment in the regeneration of Lockleaze. Construction of a fully accessible off-road walking and cycling route that links Cheswick Village to Lockleaze and Purdown began in November 2021 and is due to be finished in Autumn 2022.
“Works will begin this summer on sustainable transport improvements along Muller Road which will see new bus lanes, upgraded accessible bus stops, the closure of Springfield Avenue, Draycott Road and Brent Road to through traffic to reduce ‘rat-running’, improve walking and cycling journeys and road safety, along with the introduction of traffic signals and pedestrian crossing to the junction with Ralph Road.
"A second phase of works along Muller Road, south of Shaldon Road, is being redesigned following initial consultation. This second phase will be reviewed again later in 2022 and discussed with local stakeholders when ready.”
