Green light for East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood trial
Plans to deliver safer, quieter and more sustainable neighbourhoods in East Bristol have been approved as part of Bristol’s first Liveable Neighbourhood pilot project.
Liveable Neighbourhoods aim to achieve a better balance between how streets are used for transport and people.
Plans to reduce traffic, improve active travel infrastructure, boost public transport and improve air quality have been designed in partnership with local communities.
Since January 2022, the council has carried out three rounds of community engagement, working with local people, community groups, businesses and schools to design a range of measures to make Barton Hill and parts of Redfield and St George more ‘liveable’.
This led up to a statutory consultation on the proposed trial scheme, which ran from 29 January to 20 February 2024. This is part of the Traffic Regulation Order process necessary before the council can make any changes to the highway. More than 1,300 people submitted comments, in support or to object, on the proposed changes.
Following the consultation, the council has taken the decision to implement the trial scheme as proposed. This will see measures, such as modal filters, traffic calming, pocket parks and bus gates, installed as part of a trial. If successful, the trial measures would be replaced with permanent infrastructure that would also include extra street lighting, new crossings with traffic signals, sections of cycle track and street trees.
I am delighted we are moving forward with Bristol’s first Liveable Neighbourhood trial. With our east Bristol pilot, we’re aiming to deliver a safe, healthy, inclusive, and attractive environment where everyone can breathe clean air, have access to better quality green spaces, and feel a part of their community. To do this we need to change the layout of some local roads to make them safer and to discourage drivers using them as shortcuts. Elsewhere, this has been shown to boost active travel in neighbourhoods, reducing traffic and congestion on the roads, which brings with it all the health benefits of getting exercise and feeling a part of your community. It’s an exciting project and I am looking forward to seeing how the trial progresses, particularly with initial work underway on the South Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood pilot.
Councillor Don Alexander, Cabinet Member for Transport
The trial scheme will be installed later this year following a tender process for the works. In the meantime, 15 cycle hangars are set to be installed on 14 roads across the project area, with the first four going in next week on Holmes Street, Avonvale Road, Victoria Avenue/Witchell Road and Diamond Road.
The East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood pilot project is being funded by the Department for Transport’s City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement, administered by the West of England Combined Authority.
