News / Transport
Mayor’s lack of support for Park Street improvement divides opinion
Responses are divided over mayor Helen Godwin’s decision to cut funding for the Park Street improvement plan.
Green Party-run Bristol City Council had wanted to close the steep high street to most drivers to prevent buses from getting stuck in congestion, funded from the West of England Combined Authority’s (WECA) half a billion pound pot of money for sustainable transport schemes.
But the Labour mayor who heads WECA has refused, with Godwin telling Sunday’s episode of Politics West that she would only pay for a trial limited to peak hours.
This disagreement drew fire for both authorities, but feedback is largely skeptical of the original council proposal.
Supporters of Godwin raise concerns about accessibility issues for people with mobility challenges and argue for better bus connectivity.
Critics say her decision lacks ambition, highlighting a failure in the city’s transport strategy due to underinvestment and calling for “bold” infrastructure projects in Bristol.
Through-traffic could still be prevented from using the popular shopping street in order to free up more space for buses – image: Bristol City Council
Praising the mayor on Bristol24/7’s website comment section, RoFish-5157 said: “Well done, Helen Godwin. If Bristol Council wants to spend £15 million to improve the roads/congestion, use it to improve buses & bus connectivity. That would really help to get people out of their cars by offering realistic alternative ways to get into and across the city.”
JM-14910 added: “Good move. It’s amazing how even Labour can look sensible in comparison to the eco lunatic Greens! This was a disgraceful waste of money that would only make traffic worse for the bast majority of people. People don’t want to use buses. People want to use cars without socialists making traffic intentionally worse just to fit their narrow agenda. Cars are freedom and they hate it.”
JohnWoodley-10474 said: “Surely there are better ways to spend £15m than trying to save 10 minutes travel time for people on the no 2 bus during rush hour?”
Some Facebook users also showed support for the mayor’s decision.
Hillfields Labour councillor Kelvin Blake wrote: “I would welcome one of the Greens tell me if you’re disabled how do you get to St Georges Concert Hall if this mad scheme goes ahead??”
User Mark Wright said: “The rationale is very simple and the Metro Mayor has said: diverting even more traffic past the city’s main hospital, when it is already one of the most busy and polluted roads in the city, is a bad idea. I agree with her.”
Meanwhile, ParkRunner-10107, questioned Godwin: “Mayor of the West of England? Actually do something with your title.”
Tim-4335 added: “Unbelievable really. Another useless metro mayor. Not supporting the scheme based on “instinct” is just idiotic. Not supporting a fairly modestly priced transformational city centre scheme of the city that sits, well, in the middle of your combined authority and whose democratically elected leadership really wants (and needs it to make its bus network work better) it is highly questionable. “The funding was never there so it wasn’t pulled” is somewhat disingenuous.”
Others argued that the problem lies with the city’s transport network as a whole.
BS5comments-8190 said: “Whether Park Street is ever changed or not is irrelevant on a city wide scale. This city has huge transport issues and it’s holding back growth and development. Decades of no meaningful strategy and underinvestment in public transport have got us to this situation. A lot of people in this city don’t own a car so are held back enormously by no proper alternative to driving. I want to see this metro mayor come up with something bold to address this. Perhaps a tramway from Temple Meads around the city centre, or even a free circular bus like they have in Manchester. Or how about revisiting the proposed ‘supertram’ from the 2000s? Unfortunately this city lacks ambition and no tinkering around the edges is going to change that. We’re moving at a glacial place. It taken almost 30 years to get the Portishead railway plans approved!”
Millions of pounds have already been spent on designing the scheme for one of Bristol’s steepest streets – photo: Jenna Baker
Greens on Bristol City Council could try to get the £15m funding needed for the scheme from council coffers, but that spending will need to be approved by the council’s transport committee – on which the Greens are short of a majority by one. It is set to meet on Thursday, February 5.
The day after appearing on Politics West, Godwin was questioned over her “diet scheme” at a scheduled appearance before WECA’s scrutiny committee.
Green councillor for Knowle on Bristol City Council Toby Wells, who sits on the committee, said: “You mentioned yesterday on Politics West that you had an instinct that putting a bus gate on Park Street was the wrong solution for that area. I’m sure we would all agree that we prefer the final decisions to be made on objective evidence rather than instinct.”
He said: “On that basis, what have your officers told you about the difference in bus delays and air quality between the full scheme being proposed by Bristol Council versus the diet scheme that you’re proposing?”
Godwin insisted: “I didn’t make the decision on instinct. What I said was: prior to my election, my instinct was that it wasn’t such a good idea as resident. And then, as soon as I was elected, I then asked officers to take a more technical look — which they have been doing since May.”
She said that her team had worked with council officers in Bristol to look at the impact on several roads, including the road past the Bristol Royal Infirmary and Children’s Hospital which she said was her “particular concern.”
Their recommendation was the “diet scheme”: a 12-month trial of having a bus gate on Park Street operational only at peak hours.
The full scheme would see a permanent round the clock bus gate installed on Park Street, along with widened pavements and a new bike lane on Queen’s Road.
Drivers would still be able to park on the street but they would need to access it from St Georges Road, with taxis the only cars still able to continue using Park Street like usual.
Main photo: Jenna Baker
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