News / Transport
Buses to stay stuck in congestion as Labour block plan to ban through-traffic on Park Street
Many buses will stay stuck in congestion for the foreseeable future after Labour blocked a plan to ban through-traffic on Park Street.
Park Street is used by bus routes serving 23 of Bristol’s 34 wards, which are regularly delayed by traffic; with around 35 buses driving along up and down the road every hour.
There are often queues along the entire street as buses and cars attempt to get into the city centre, holding up passengers for at least ten minutes and impacting the reliability of the citywide bus network.
A recent traffic count conducted by Bristol City Council found that between 7am and 7pm, around 7,000 cars travel along Park Street, 20,000 pedestrians and cyclists, and at least 30,000 bus passengers.
But because the alternative route for traffic if the ban went ahead would pass by the BRI and the Children’s Hospital, the plan has been scrapped.
A compromise of a 12-hour ban was also voted down.
Three Labour councillors, one Conservative and a Liberal Democrat outvoted the four Green councillors on the transport policy committee on Thursday.
They raised concerns about how pollution would increase along the alternative route drivers would use passing the two hospitals on Upper Maudlin Street.
There were fears that preventing through-traffic from Park Street would increase the number of vehicles on Upper Maudlin Street – photo: Martin Booth
Tom Renhard, leader of Bristol’s Labour group, said: “The impact on air quality outside the hospitals is not something that I feel is a fair sacrifice in order to progress this scheme.
“It will go up by the amount it will reduce in the Colston Avenue area.
“It’s unfortunate that when WECA offered a compromise, it wasn’t taken.
“While you are going to get some modal shift, some people do need to use their cars to get about the city.
“That could be for a range of reasons, in my case caring responsibilities.
“I’m fully committed to looking at what we can do to get air pollution down. I’m not going to sign off on measures that are going to make air pollution worse outside our city’s hospitals.”
A new cyclist waiting aid on Upper Maudlin Street is at the end of a new segregated cycle lane – photo: Martin Booth
Council staff said the increase of air pollution along Park Row, Perry Road, Upper Maudlin Street and Marlborough Street would be negligible.
Levels of nitrogen dioxide have been falling since the Clean Air Zone was brought in and would remain below legal limits if the plan went ahead.
Meanwhile levels of nitrogen dioxide would fall on probably the most polluted part of Bristol, around Colston Avenue, Lewins Mead and Rupert Street.
At the last annual count, pollution here is above the legal limit of 40 micrograms per cubic metre of air.
The Park Street ban would divert a lot of traffic from using this route, with pollution soon falling below legal limits.
However, regardless of the limit, rising pollution along the alternative route past the hospitals could have more of an impact, given the high number of sick and vulnerable patients breathing in polluted air there.
Councillors were told that changes would be made to this route, including to traffic light signals and removing islands, to cut down on congestion.
But they remained unconvinced, and Labour suggested that the Clean Air Zone funding be used instead to pay for more subsidised bus routes.
This cash has previously paid for new routes and existing routes to run more frequently.
Labour said this money could also be spent on repainting road markings, unblocking drains and installing better lighting on pavements.
They suggested expanding a financial assistance scheme helping drivers upgrade to cleaner vehicles, and questioned the loss of parking income if some spaces were removed from Park Street.
Cars would still have been able to use and park on Park Street under the plans – image: Bristol City Council
The Park Street plan was first suggested by the former Labour mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees, but the idea was later canned.
Then the Greens revived the scheme, splitting public opinion. Some local businesses feared a loss of trade while walking campaigners said footfall would likely increase.
But the Labour mayor of the West of England, Helen Godwin, refused to fund the plan due to fears over increasing congestion and pollution past the hospitals.
Instead she offered a trial of a through-traffic ban just at peak hours.
Because this would only cut traffic and pollution by about a third, the Greens rejected the trial and tried to pay for the scheme a different way.
Around £8m would come from the Clean Air Zone income and £5.3m from a government air quality grant.
However they needed the approval of the transport policy committee.
Conservatives and Liberal Democrats previously opposed the plan, so the decision rested on the three Labour councillors, who in 2025 abstained from a decision on Park Street.
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Read more: Mayor puts brakes on Park Street improvement plans
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Green councillor Rob Bryher said: “Labour seem desperate to block a fully funded, deliverable scheme that will clean up air, give buses priority, reduce traffic congestion overall, create a better environment for shopping and dwelling, and reinvent the public realm up to the Triangle.
“We want to make the air safe to breathe for thousands of Bristol residents and visitors.
“It’s clear that Labour will only support schemes like this when they get to deliver them, not when the Greens – following on from Labour and Marvin’s good work setting up the Clean Air Zone – are delivering them.
“We thought there was a progressive consensus around clean air and bus priority.
“Today Labour have sadly broken that consensus by not seizing this opportunity to make our air clean enough to be legally compliant.
“I hope people remember this moment every time they’re sat in traffic or waiting for a delayed bus.
“I hope they remember this moment every time Tom Renhard opens his mouth with meaningless rhetoric on being an air pollution leader.”
Main photo: Mhairi Threlfall
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