Features / East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood
‘The liveable neighbourhood is the worst thing in this area for 60 years’
If you walk through the streets that make up the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood trial area, you will see many businesses and houses have put up posters in their windows that urge the community to ‘Stand Together’ against the scheme.
Not all of the infrastructure for the six month trial has been installed, however, due to residents blocking council contractors.
Every Tuesday at Cafe Conscious on Avonvale Road, residents meet to share their thoughts and concerns in open discussions just a few yards from where a confrontation described as “illegal” by one senior councillor recently took place.
is needed now More than ever
On a recent morning, Cafe Conscious director Sandy, 59, from Speedwell, told Bristol24/7 that her two-and-a-half-mile drive to work now takes over an hour because of traffic on Church Road as a result of the new EBLN infrastructure. She said that because of the changes, “everything is now forced on to Church Road, so the buses are all full now”.
Aelisha, 30, from Easton who runs a Caribbean food pop-up at Cafe Conscious, feels the city council has chosen Barton Hill for the trial scheme so they can “impose it on people”. Aeslisha thinks the local authority has “squashed every single voice”.
She added: “They wouldn’t do it in a predominantly white community up in Clifton, would they? Because they got spoken out of that.”
Some supporters of the scheme have said one of its positives is that it will make it safer for active travel options such as walking and cycling. However, both Sandy and Aelisha are unable to cycle to work due to health reasons and feel the council have not taken an inclusive approach in implementing the scheme. Aelisha said she has not yet seen the increased services the council had promised: “You can’t cut off an area without increasing the services.”
Aelisha runs a Caribbean food pop-up at Cafe Conscious
Leanne, 48, from Barton Hill, a volunteer at Cafe Conscious, said the scheme would have been implemented much sooner if not for opposition from many people in the Somali community, who have played a significant role in campaigning against the EBLN trial.
Green Party councillor for Lawrence Hill ward, Shona Jemphrey, was coincidentally holding a surgery at Cafe Conscious at the same time that Bristol24/7 visited. At the surgery, residents shared their concerns about the EBLN scheme and raised various other issues with Jemphrey – who was previously a Labour member – including blocked drains, overflowing bins, and problems with rats and mice in certain areas.
Tim, 40 from Barton Hill, attended the meeting and said he is “keen to give the trial a go”. Tim feels Avonvale Road is “horrible and unsafe” when it is busy and believes the EBLN trial will be helpful and a useful opportunity to work through any issues the community have; although he also “gets why people are against” the scheme.
Critics of the trial include Momodou, 57 from Redfield, a gold and silversmith and owner of jewellery shop Secka on Church Road, on the window of which is a poster opposing the EBLN. Momodou said he put up the poster “so people stand up and fight”.
Shop owner Momodou opposes the EBLN scheme
The importance of speaking out is not lost on John, 61, also from Redfield who believes the council “don’t respect” the community’s concerns. John said: “They’re not listening to the people here they’re still going to do what they’re going to do.”
Pub-goers at the Fire Engine on Church Road voiced similar views. Plasterer and builder Daniel, 47, who lives on Avonvale Road, said people have told him to just adapt to the new trial. But he said: “I can’t adapt to this situation because I have a van full of tools. I can’t just get on a bike and take a cement mixer around.”
Mark, 60, who has lived around St George all of his life, claimed the EBLN trial is “the worst thing they’ve done for this area in my 60 years”.
He said: “What they should have done is make Beaufort Road a one-way street. This is why all this is blocked up, because everybody used to turn up Beaufort Road. I mean, it makes me laugh, outside St Patrick’s (School), ‘Please switch off your engine when you’re dropping children off’. But when you’re sat in traffic, you can’t turn your engine off.”
Richard, 62, who grew up in Lawrence Hill, said the council “have made it worse for the environment now because everyone is in traffic. There are more fumes from vehicles now”.
Mark (left) and Richard (right) both believe that the EBLN scheme is worse for the environment than before
Meanwhile, in St George, Bobby, 47, a postman who was out delivering parcels, said the scheme had been a “bit of a nightmare”. He and his colleagues have been creating systems to overcome the issues put in place by the trial scheme even though Bobby said he prefers the way it was before.
In January, Bristol’s deputy council leader, Green councillor Heather Mack, was the senior councillor who called the actions of protesters “illegal”, a charge the residents themselves fiercely contested.
Mack said: “It is important that we have solutions to big problems like air pollution and excess traffic on small residential roads that were never designed to be used as cut-throughs.
“Our plans for the trial are based on three years of intensive community engagement, co-design and consultation. Thousands of people have fed into shaping the trial, which we’ve refined using this feedback.
“Some residents have told us that their streets already feel safer, are quieter and have cleaner air. We are confident the trial will continue to deliver these improvements for local streets, as well as increase footfall for local businesses and use of sustainable transport.”
All photos: Lydia Lewis
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