News / Clifton Village
Princess Victoria Street is now (almost) permanently pedestrianised
Four years ago, a group of residents and traders carried a coffin around the streets of Clifton Village as plans to pedestrianise Princess Victoria Street were first unveiled.
To paraphrase Mark Twain, the death of the road has been greatly exaggerated.
The permanent pedestrianisation of Princess Victoria Street was officially unveiled on Saturday morning. It still needs a few finishing touches but is already being appreciated by shoppers and shopkeepers alike.
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Work started in January on the works, with the £655,000 scheme funded by the government’s Community City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement.
There is now a continuous raised level surface on the pedestrianised area of the road, with deliveries in motor vehicles still allowed at certain times of the day.
Tactile paving differentiates between the pavements and the road, new gates are in place on the Regent Street and Waterloo Street ends of the pedestrianised area, and more cycle parking is due to be installed soon.
“It’s a wonderful space now and hopefully will lead to a huge increase in footfall,” Spicer+Cole co-owner Chris Swift told Bristol24/7.
“Pedestrianisation is obviously good for us. It’s not as good for some of the other traders so we are sensitive to that issue but long-term I think you have to move with the times and I’m feeling positive about this change.”
The £655,000 scheme was funded by the government’s Community City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement – photo: Martin Booth
Green Party councillor for Clifton, Paula O’Rourke, said: “I think everybody will remember that there was a lot of opposition to this but you look at the street today, you see all of those people enjoying their leisure time, everybody out on the street and the shops really busy, and previously you just would have seen piles of cars.”
Before this short stretch of Princess Victoria Street was pedestrianised, around 15 cars could park on either side of the road – photo: Google
O’Rourke added: “It’s so much better for everybody. It’s better for your health, it’s better for the economy and I think if we see a lot more streets like this in Bristol, that would be progress.”
So could the success of this permanently pedestrianised small corner of Clifton Village act as an exemplar project across the city?
Despite the multiple benefits of pedestrianisation, there will inevitably be fierce resistance as was shown when plans to pedestrianise St Mark’s Road in Easton were mooted and later shelved after a consultation, with Sweetmart saying they would leave if even a small section of the road was closed to cars.
A study carried out after car use was restricted in central Madrid showed there was a 9.5 per cent increase in retail takings as well as cleaner air.
Bristol lord mayor Henry Michallat and Isambard Kingdom Brunel helped cut the ribbon – photo: Martin Booth
Main photo: Martin Booth
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