Your say / Transport
‘We must stand up for people in one of Bristol’s most deprived areas against a council convinced that it knows best’
Last week, to nobody’s surprise, Bristol City Council’s transport & connectivity committee voted to approve the full business case that with £10m of WECA funding will mean that the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood becomes permanent.
Despite claims that the project so far was a trial and that they were listening, the council decided long ago that this scheme was happening and never had any intention of changing its mind.
The plan now needs to be approved by West of England mayor, Helen Godwin, who controls most of the money.
is needed now More than ever
This has been one of the most controversial schemes that Bristol City Council has ever tried.
You might think when an ‘improvement’ has to be carried out in the dead of night under heavy police guard, that perhaps they haven’t got things quite right.
That never seems to deter the zealots in charge of Bristol’s transport.
As a councillor around 2021, I attended a briefing when the council (led then by Labour mayor Marvin Rees) was first ‘considering’ liveable neighbourhoods.
There was no mention of any trade-offs, costs or downsides, just a string of supporters from London telling us what a great idea they are.
It was clear then that they were coming to Bristol whether we wanted them or not.
Many residents living on or near Beaufort Road in Redfield are in favour of the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood – photo: Martin Booth
Obviously, I’m opposed to the liveable neighbourhood.
That’s not because I’m pro-car, anti-bus or don’t care about safety or environmental concerns. It’s simply that I don’t think that how we each choose to travel is any of the council’s business.
We’re all free to have our own preferences, and to try and convince each other on the merits of bikes, buses, cars or whatever.
The council exists to serve all of us, not to impose its preferences on everyone else.
Of course, I’m aware that plenty of good people support the scheme, for all sorts of good reasons.
At last week’s meeting though, one supporter ludicrously claimed that it was “fighting back against the billionaire class”.
I spent time talking to people on both sides during the WECA mayoral campaign last year when the ‘trial’ was in full swing and I didn’t notice any billionaires among its opponents.
On the contrary, it seemed to me that the supporters were largely the middle classes of St George who wanted quieter roads to cycle their children to school.
Those opposing it were their neighbours in the more deprived Barton Hill, whose lives have been disrupted and businesses ruined by a scheme that has been imposed on them against their will.
When the area was chosen as the guinea pig for liveable neighbourhoods in Bristol, the council ran a ‘consultation’.
The obvious question to ask might have been, ‘Do you want a Liveable Neighbourhood?’ But funnily enough they never asked that.
Nor was there any mention of roadblocks or bus gates.
Instead the survey asked vague questions (‘What do you like about your area?’) and used that as ‘evidence’ to impose the plan.
At the end of the so-called trial, out came another survey with the same pointlessly vague questions. No-one has ever been asked whether they like this scheme or want to keep it.
When I was running for metro mayor last year, I promised that I wouldn’t fund the scheme unless a majority of residents clearly said that they wanted it in answer to a straight, simple yes / no question.
I hope that mayor Helen Godwin will take that approach now.
It is in her hands now to stand up for people in one of Bristol’s most deprived areas against a council convinced that it knows best.
She knows what the right thing is to do. I hope she will find the courage to do it.
This is an opinion piece by Steve Smith, a former Conservative Party councillor and lord mayor
Main photo: Martin Booth
Read next:
Our newsletters emailed directly to you
