East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood - Latest news

We are introducing a package of travel offers and extra bus gate exemptions aimed at helping people adapt to the changes being brought in by the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood trial scheme, which is being installed across Barton Hill and parts of Redfield and St George.

Travel offers of up to £100 are open to all over 18-year-olds who live, work or study in Bristol, and every household within the trial area will receive an extra £100 of bus tickets through the post in the coming months. These can be used by all the family on First Bus services, including the number 16, which is launching on 6 April, and will travel from Fishponds to the centre every half hour, via St George, Barton Hill and Temple Meads.

Households within the trial area on a low income, that meet the eligibility criteria, will also be able to choose between an extra £250 of First Bus tickets, a £150 voucher to buy a refurbished bike, or a 12 month exemption to the trial’s bus gates if they need to drive for work.

Blue Badge holders, who live in trial area, will also be able to nominate a vehicle to drive through the trial’s bus gates on Avonvale Road, Marsh Lane and Pilemarsh when they go live. This will be through an annual application process that will be launching soon.

Councillor Ed Plowden, Chair of the Transport and Connectivity Committee, said: “We are continuing with the trial scheme because we know, from looking at similar initiatives, that they offer many health benefits and make local roads safer for everyone.

“Since the May local elections, we have been listening to concerns around the trial and have reflected on what support we can offer locally, especially for Disabled people and those on a low income.

“I am excited that we will soon be sending every household across the trial area an extra £100 in bus tickets and that households on a low income, that meet the criteria, will also be able to access up to £250 worth of extra travel offers. This is great timing with the number 16 bus launching in April, which will offer more ways to travel about locally and into the centre. I’d like to thank First Bus for working with us on these fantastic bus travel offers.”

We are offering one-to-one sessions to help people with journey planning, bus gate exemptions, and travel support.

Find out more about the travel offers, bus gate exemptions, and how to book a one-to-one session.

The East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood trial is being funded by the UK government through the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement, secured by the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority. This funding is to help tackle congestion, reduce carbon emissions, and improve the environment, as well as support the growth of the local economy by connecting people to education and jobs.

First Bus is supporting the free bus ticket offers for households across East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood. The bus ticket offer does not include airport services.

As part of Bristol’s first Liveable Neighbourhood pilot project, we are working with people who live, work, study, and travel through east Bristol to design people-friendly streets.

Towards the end of October, our contractors started installing the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood trial. We had hoped that this work would be completed by now, but we have been faced with protestors on site who have prevented this, putting themselves and our contractors at risk. As a result, we have been forced to pause installing the remaining trial measures, which is costing both time and money.

Please be reassured that we still intend to complete the trial scheme and are considering how we can proceed in a safe way.

In the meantime, we wanted to share some of the positive comments we've already been receiving since we installed the trial measures in St George, Barton Hill and Redfield.

A resident from Beaufort Road said: "The difference is huge. It’s so quiet and calm and feels safe now. I can walk down the road on the pavement with my daughter without worrying about her being knocked over by a speeding car or a car mounting the pavement outside our house. The air already feels cleaner and less polluted, and the mornings aren’t starting with stress, arguments and noise. Most of all, it feels so much safer. If I wanted to walk anywhere on our road, it was constantly busy, noisy, beeping, and full of anger. Please consider the residents when considering this trial and the positive effects on us and our children."

A resident who lives near Avonvale Road said: "I can't believe how Beaufort Road has been transformed. I keep stopping to just enjoy the peace and watch people walking or cycling past. It's incredible."

From another east Bristol resident: "We can leave our house without smelling fumes and hearing angry motorists. And we can walk and cycle down our streets without rat-running drivers mounting the pavements."

A Glebe Road local shared: "Wow, what a difference the planters have made on my road! It is so quiet. I cycle to work down Beaufort Road and past the Netham. This needs to stay because it is a game changer in terms of road safety and reducing air pollution. I’ve seen people complaining about the measures, but it is not the view of many of us in the area. The street is so much nicer to live on now. Gone are the stressful days of parking outside my house, and the street already feels more homely. The avenue was never meant to be a cut-through. The number of horn beeping and arguments I’ve seen over the years was awful."

Another resident from Glebe Road added: "I believe the scheme has made positive changes to this area. This road is significantly quieter, and the problems of two-way traffic on Beaufort Road have been mitigated. Access to this road was odd at first, but now I am used to it, things are fine. Emergency vehicles are accessing the road okay now they have worked out the routes."

One east Bristol resident shared: "I’m really, really ready to have cleaner air and fewer traffic jams metres from my front door. Every rush hour still sees thousands of impatient motorists passing through our unfortunate little area. I’m worried that a few misinformed protesters have thrown the whole thing off course."

While we know there are wider concerns about the impact the measures are having to traffic on nearby roads, at least when they are first introduced, we are pleased to hear that our aim to create safer, quieter, and happier local streets where communities can enjoy time spent outside their homes is becoming a reality.

However, we want people right across the trial area to realise these benefits and are working hard to come up with a way forward to install the remaining elements of the trial in Barton Hill and Redfield.

We are confident that once the full trial is in place, traffic will settle down, and local people will enjoy improved air quality, less congestion, and all the health benefits of more active travel.

Councillor Ed Plowden, Chair of the Transport and Connectivity Committee, said: “The East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood scheme is being introduced to create safer, healthier, and more enjoyable communities. We understand that change can be challenging, but considered change is necessary to help improve the quality of life for residents in the area, while improving air quality, tackling congestion and climate change and bringing many health benefits.”

Once the trial scheme has been installed, we will be trialling it for six months before we ask for feedback through a survey and talks with local businesses and community leaders. This information will be used - alongside data from the trial including traffic levels, walking and cycling levels, bus journey times and air quality - to decide the next steps. This evaluation will include engaging with residents and businesses about their experiences of the trial.

In a bid to create a safer, healthier, and greener neighbourhood, we are gearing up to install the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood trial scheme from 28 October to 10 January.

Measures - to better manage traffic, provide safe journey routes for pedestrians and active travel and introduce new planters and pocket parks – will be installed across Barton Hill and parts of Redfield and St George.

The trial measures will be installed in five phases:

• Phase 1 – St George including Wicket Lane, Beaufort Road, Blackswarth Road, Glebe Road and The Avenue – from 28 October to 6 November
• Phase 2 – Redfield including Avonvale Road, Pilemarsh, Marsh Lane, Barnes Street, Victoria Avenue and Byron Street – from 11 to 29 November
• Phase 3 – Barton Hill including Kingsmarsh Way and Lincoln Street – from 2 to 9 December
• Phase 4 – Barton Hill and Redfield including Lancaster Street and Cobden Street – from 10 to 13 December
• Phase 5 – Barton Hill and Redfield including Grindell Road, Barton Hill Road/Ducie Road and Ducie Road bridge – from 16 December to 10 January

Work to install double yellow lines, dropped kerbs and tactile paving will also take place on Crews Hole Road as part of the wider lining and signage works for the whole trial area.

As we will be using temporary materials for the trial, they will only give an idea of how the streets could look and work as part of the permanent scheme, which would see local streets transformed with smart new infrastructure.

Once the trial measures have been installed, drivers will still be able to access all roads within the trial area, but most routes for motorised vehicles will change. They will make it easier and safer to walk, wheel and cycle throughout the area.

The trial will be a big change and take a bit of time to get used to, especially for people who are used to driving particular routes. That’s why we’ve created a short film and are offering one-to-one online journey planning sessions. Find out how to prepare for the trial.

As part of the trial we will also be installing 24-hour bus gates on Avonvale Road, Marsh Lane and Pilemash. Variable message signs will notify people driving when they will start being enforced. After this time, all unauthorised vehicles that travel through the bus gates will receive fines.

Authorised vehicles that will be able to travel through the east Bristol bus gates include:

• buses
• emergency services
• refuse vehicles
• cycles and e-scooters
• taxis and private hire vehicles
• parents/carers who live within the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood area who receive a personal travel budget for their child
• residents who live in the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood Area who have a disabled class vehicle
• professional carers providing care within the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood Area

Exemptions for disabled tax class vehicles and professional carers providing care in the community will need to be applied for from mid-November. For more information and how to apply for an exemption, go to www.bristol.gov.uk/eblnbusgates.

Google Maps will start to update ahead of the trial, so people are aware of the changes and do not arrive at a recently installed closure point. Diversion signage will also go up at relevant locations before the works start.

We will seek your views on the trial in 2025. We have been collecting baseline data and will collect ongoing data to determine how best to replace the temporary measures with permanent infrastructure. This will also include extra street lighting, new crossings with traffic signals, sections of cycle track and new street trees.

Visual of temporary measures at Victoria Street

We are commissioning five artistic interventions for new parklets and key locations within the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood trial scheme. 

The artwork will help create places where people want to spend time, interact with neighbours, and enjoy the unique identities of these places.

We are aiming to engage up to five Bristol based artists to work collaboratively to explore local context and work with local communities to co-create locally distinctive and cohesive artworks at five sites within the trial scheme.

The five sites include:

• Barton Hill Triangle parklet opposite Wellspring Settlement
• Marsh Lane junction with Avonvale Road
• Victoria Avenue near Redfield Educate
• Queen Ann Road and Avonvale Road pavements near Barton Hill Academy
• Beaufort Road parklet near St Patricks Catholic Primary School

The interventions will be painted surface artworks on road and/or pavements and in newly created pocket parks. The aspiration is that if the scheme is adopted permanently all the artwork will be re-installed in thermoplastic for longer term durability.

It is vital that in creating the design, all the artists engage and involve local people throughout the process.

If you are a resident or a community group that would like to help shape how your neighbourhood looks, participate in free artistic co-design workshops or volunteer to help make the artworks a reality, please register your interest by emailing liveableneighbourhoods@bristol.gov.uk.

If you are an artist and would like to be considered for this project, download the brief and apply by 10am Friday 1 November 2024.

We are pleased to let you know that the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood trial measures will be installed in November and December 2024 with some preparatory works set to get underway in the coming weeks.

The project aims to make the area safer, healthier and greener by achieving a better balance between how streets are used for transport and people.

It will see measures, including bus gates and point closures on roads using planters, bollards and pocket parks, installed across Barton Hill and parts of Redfield and St George.

To prepare ahead of the trial, we’ve produced a short film that sets out the changes and how you will be able to travel within and through the Liveable Neighbourhood.

It explains how walking, wheeling and cycling throughout the trial area will be safer and easier, while the routes people drive to their home or other areas within the Liveable Neighbourhood are likely to change.

We’re offering online one-to-one travel planning sessions with transport officers ahead of the trial. These are tailored sessions to help people navigate the new routes. Book a session.

Organisations and businesses can also request that a member of the Liveable Neighbourhood team visits them to take them through the trial changes. This can either be with management or members of staff, in person or online. Make a request.

We will be seeking views on the trial in 2025 to see how the scheme may change before a decision is made on a permanent layout, which will also include extra street lighting, new crossings with traffic signals, sections of cycle track and street trees.

The East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood pilot project is being funded from the UK Government’s City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement, administered by the West of England Combined Authority.

Visit our 'preparing for the trial' page to find out more.

As part of the GREENGAGE project, we launched the first Citizen Observatory in East Bristol between May and July. It aims to give a voice to people we don’t usually hear from through typical community engagement exercises.

As part of this, groups of young people from Bristol Somali Youth Voice and Redfield Educate met weekly with council officers to discuss and raise local issues that could be incorporated into the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood project.

The main issues raised were:

• poorly lit areas making young people feel unsafe in their area, particularly green spaces like Netham Park and Gaunts Ham Park
• narrow pavements made worse by pavement parking
• poor quality public transport links and a lack of bus shelters
• bus services not turning up or running late
• a lack of road crossings
• anti-social behaviour, especially in the tower blocks
• CCTV that’s not working which could lead to an increase in anti-social behaviour
• tower blocks not having secure facilities, such as door codes not working

Many of these issues are related to journeys to and from school and elsewhere, which can put young people off walking and cycling.

The final session was attended by councillors, who listened to the participants as they concluded their observations. These conclusions will be used to inform future policy and will be integrated into the trial changes with area-specific updates to lighting and CCTV, as one example.

We will run more Citizen Observatories involving people of all ages with an aim to focus on mobility, air quality, safety and healthy living in Bristol.

This work will be supported by bespoke digital technologies and tools to help monitor local environments and to work together through the Citizen Observatories on solutions to these issues.

GREENGAGE sets out to help local authorities to shape their climate mitigation and adaptation policies by engaging with citizens to co-create green initiatives.

The GREENGAGE project is being funded by the European Commission and Innovate UK as part of the Horizon Research Programme, which we successfully bid for as part of our work towards East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood.

We have started the formal consultation for the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood pilot scheme, which proposes introducing measures to help achieve a better balance of how streets are used by residents and motorists.

The overall aim of East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood pilot project is to help cut down on air pollution, noise pollution, and road accidents. It is hoped that by creating quieter and safer streets, residents would be encouraged to walk, wheel, or cycle when making local journeys.

The consultation is running from Monday 29 January to Tuesday 20 February 2024.

It is following the statutory consultation process for creating Traffic Regulation Orders (known as TROs). Local highway authorities, including Bristol City Council, are required to carry out this process before making legal changes to the highway.

The process will inform the council’s decision making and invites comments and objections on proposed measures, from modal filters to bus gates.

A public notice to promote the statutory consultation has been published in the Bristol Post and notices have been placed on lampposts throughout the proposed scheme area.

For all the consultation material and to submit your comments or objections, visit www.bristol.gov.uk/ebln-tro.

Printed copies of consultation material is also available at:

• St George Library, Church Road, Bristol BS5 8AL
• Wellspring Settlement, 43 Ducie Road, Barton Hill, Bristol BS5 0AX
• Citizen Service Point, 100 Temple St, Redcliffe, Bristol BS1 6AG

Please check with each venue for their opening times.

We have contacted our list of stakeholders to ask for their help in highlighting this process to make sure everyone knows the consultation is running and how to give their comments or objections.

We will work to make sure that all Barton House tenants who wish to take part in the statutory consultation have the opportunity to do so. Repair works are underway at Barton House to make it safe for people to return to next month, following the temporary evacuation in November 2023.

This consultation will inform how the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood pilot scheme is taken forward – whether as presented now or modified further. Any measures that we take forward will be monitored, and the community engaged throughout the trial. With feedback and consultation still ongoing, no decisions have been made about the final scheme.

Find out more.

It’s been a while since we’ve had an update for you about the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood.

In that time, we’ve been going through the feedback on our proposals for the trial scheme. Based on this feedback to date, we are considering a number of changes to the trial.

Take a look at our updated map and find out more about what’s changing.

We are aiming to start the trial this winter with temporary changes, which we will keep under close review. Again, we will take on the community’s feedback before anything is made permanent.

What’s in it for you?

We are bringing forward the Liveable Neighbourhood project in Barton Hill and parts of Redfield and St George because we want these areas to have the opportunity to access the millions of pounds made available nationally to improve active travel.

The money could mean more street trees, cycle storage space, urban drainage and other improvements. The investment could help make the areas safer to move around and reduce pollution. This investment could also be an opportunity to increase footfall for local businesses and boost trade.

Myth busting

Understandably, as we develop more ideas and as more people hear about them, residents have questions and concerns. We remain committed to working with communities to find solutions. However, there is also misinformation being circulated. It’s important you have the correct facts about how your Liveable Neighbourhood would work:

• Nobody will be charged for driving into or out of the Liveable Neighbourhood area. However, if you were to drive through one of the proposed bus gates you would receive a penalty charge notice as you would for anywhere in the city. However, there will be a number of vehicle types that will be exempt - check the website to find out more.
• No roads will be completely closed to vehicular traffic. All roads will still be accessible by car/vehicle. You may have to drive by a different route as there could be point closures (known as modal filters), so that streets are primarily for residents.
• Emergency services will be able to access all roads.

Find out the answers to more frequently asked questions.

How we’re keeping you informed

To make sure communities are aware of these changes, we are also writing to properties across the project area and Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol, has published a story on the the mayor’s website about the proposed updates to the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood trial scheme.

We are excited to present our plans for the trial scheme that will help make Barton Hill and parts of Redfield and St George quieter, safer and healthier places to live and spend time.

You can find out more about the trial at one of our info sessions or on a walkabout of the area in May and June.

Drop-in info sessions

• St George Community Centre on Tuesday 9 May from 1pm to 4pm
• Bethsesda Methodist Church on Sunday 14 May from 11am to 3pm
• St Anne’s Boardmill Social Club on Tuesday 23 May from 3pm to 7pm
• Barton Hill Settlement on Tuesday 6 June from 10am to 2pm

There’s no need to book – just turn up!

Walkabouts

• St George walkabout on Tuesday 11 May from 6pm to 7pm
• Redfield walkabout on Thursday 25 May from 6pm to 7pm
• Barton Hill walkabout on Thursday 8 June from 10am to 11am

How we got here

Lots of people told us how streets across the pilot project could be improved by using a range of measures from our design toolkit.

We put all of that feedback together in our co-develop report, and have used it to shape the trial.

The trial will take place from the autumn and will see a series of measures installed across Barton Hill and parts of Redfield and St George.

Measures include:

• modal filters
• bus gates
• pocket parks
• Changes to one-way and two-way traffic flow
• cycle hangars
• trees in large planters

We’ll be asking for your views again once the trial is underway and will run workshops to co-design what the permanent measures could look like.

See a map of the trial and what local streets will look like once it’s underway.

About the permanent scheme

We are unable to trial some of the measures as they can only be installed on a permanent basis. However, they will still be included in the final scheme and include:

• street lighting
• signalised crossings
• footway improvements
• planting street trees
• Sections of protected cycle track

We have drawn up indicative plans for the permanent scheme, which will be a working document that will change following feedback from the trial.

See a map showing early plans for the permanent scheme.

Talk to the team

To find out more, ask questions, and raise any issues you can book a one-to-one phone call or virtual meeting with the team.

Email the Liveable Neighbourhoods team.

Telephone: 0117 903 6449 and leave a message and we will call you back.

Are you a community group or organisation based in east Bristol?

Please also contact us if you would like us to come and tell your group more about the project or if you are running any community events that we could have a presence at, such as a market, in May and June.

Want to start walking, cycling and try the bus?

We offer free support to get you moving, including loaning out bikes, giving out train and bus taster tickets, and promoting east Bristol walking groups and trails.

Find out more about the help we offer.