News / Transport
Labour planning to block traffic ban on Park Street due to impact on hospitals
Three Labour councillors are planning to block a traffic ban on Park Street due to the impact on hospitals.
They say that cars would be redirected past the Bristol Royal Infirmary and the Children’s Hospital, worsening air pollution on an already congested road near sick patients.
Greens are hoping to stop general traffic from driving through the steep shopping street, to prevent buses getting stuck in congestion and also improve air quality in probably the most polluted part of Bristol: Colston Avenue.
But their hopes now appear to have been dashed.
WECA mayor Helen Godwin blocked the Park Street plan – photo: WECA
First the Park Street plan was blocked by Helen Godwin, the Labour mayor of the West of England, who refused to fund the scheme.
Then the three Labour councillors on Bristol City Council’s transport policy committee came out against the plan as well.
The Greens needed the three Labour members of the committee to either support or abstain their alternative plan of using money from the Clean Air Zone and a government air quality grant to fund the traffic ban.
The Liberal Democrats and Conservatives have always opposed the ban.
Tom Renhard, leader of the Labour group and councillor for Horfield, said: “Closing a major road to through traffic will see that traffic redirected elsewhere.
“Contrary to the Green councillors’ belief, the traffic won’t just, and I quote, ‘evaporate’.
The proposed changes to Park Street will be discussed in a council meeting on Thursday – photo: Bristol City Council
“Modelling commissioned by the council shows that closing Park Street will worsen air pollution outside of the BRI and the Children’s Hospital.
“Among the many vital services provided by both hospitals, is a comprehensive specialist service for the management of ‘Paediatric Respiratory conditions’ in children.
“It is unconscionable that this council would take steps to make air quality worse where some of our most vulnerable children and adults access specialist healthcare in this city.
“We want cleaner air across Bristol, especially near our hospitals. Putting the brakes on the Park Street scheme frees up a further £5.3 million of funding for measures to improve air quality.
“The council already has a shortlist of other options on the table, including improving financial assistance to get more polluting vehicles off our roads and replaced with cleaner alternatives.
“Labour has shown significant leadership in cleaning up our air. I would urge the Green-led council to do the same by going further and faster with options that will place climate justice at the heart of decision-making and represent better value to the taxpayer.”
The transport policy committee is due to meet on Thursday, when the Park Street plan will probably get vetoed.
According to committee reports, in 2024 the average nitrogen dioxide levels of Colston Avenue were 48.7 micrograms per cubic metre of air.
Along Park Row, Upper Maudlin Street and Marlborough Street, levels were between 20 and 29.3 micrograms.
If the plan went ahead, nitrogen dioxide levels could fall below 40 micrograms on Colston Avenue next year. This is because fewer drivers would use that route to travel north-west of the city centre.
But the alternative route, running past the hospitals, would increase pollution there “slightly”, by up to 1.5 micrograms, but still remain below the legal limit of 40 micrograms.
These forecasts are only ever predictions and depend on unpredictable factors like the weather and drivers upgrading to cleaner vehicles.
Labour added that the £8 million of Clean Air Zone income planned for the project could be spread on other projects across Bristol.
Labour councillor for Brislington East, Tim Rippington, added: “We can commission a number of new bus routes or other interventions such as improved frequencies; unblock every drain in the city, audit them and put in measures to mitigate flooding in future; triple the road marking repainting budget; install solar lights on dark active travel routes; replace bus stops that have been removed and fill more potholes.
“When you weigh up the opportunity cost of our proposal against the Greens’, there’s a clear winner. We appreciate this proposal has benefits.
“Anything that will speed up bus routes needs careful consideration, but we have to be led by pragmatism, not dogma.
“I question why there is such a need for a 24-hour bus gate when congestion on Park Street is really only an issue in rush hour and why the plans are being framed as a clean air intervention when it would worsen air quality outside the hospitals.”
Labour say the £5.3 million of air quality grant from the government could instead be spent on a financial assistance scheme, helping Bristol residents upgrade to cleaner vehicles and upgrading public sector vehicles too.
Alex Seabrook is a local democracy reporter for Bristol.
Main photo: Bristol City Council
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