Emerging Findings Transport Report

 

A: South East Bristol and Whitchurch

The A4 has long been congested, leading to delayed travel times, a negative impact on local air quality, and people using local roads as rat runs to avoid traffic. When considering this existing challenge and the future development planned for Brislington and the greater area, I see the clear need to provide a new high-speed transit link from Keynsham into Bristol City Centre via the A4. This new high-speed link should be segregated from traffic as much as possible to avoid traffic and ensure quick journey times and reliable service. This new link should also facilitate multi-modal travel so people can conveniently drive, cycle, or otherwise get to a bus stop outside the City Centre and then use the new service to travel towards Bristol.

Unfortunately under the current proposal, delivering this scheme is dependent on the creation of a new Callington Link Road as a means to allow traffic from the A4 get to the M32 to head away from Bristol. This is a unique case where building the road is necessary so the A4 heading towards Bristol City Centre can have priority for public transit. Great efforts need to be made to mitigate the effects of construction on Brislington residents living near to the new road who will be affected and to ensure that the new road network allows convenient local journeys using a range of transport.

G: M32 Corridor

The M32 suffers from terrible congestion, leading to delayed journeys and a negative impact on air quality. I support proposals to create an M32 Park and Ride, provided it’s suitably located. The site for a new Park and Ride should be located suitably far outside the City Centre, preferably in South Gloucestershire, in order to reduce the number of car journeys into Bristol which have a negative impact on air quality and noise pollution.

Urban food growing land is in high demand and having access to high-quality soil to grow food meets objects of improving public health and tackling food poverty by providing nutritious food. I am concerned that of the 17 options assessed in the West of England’s Emerging Findings Transport Report, Sims Hill farm (which is currently used by the Blue Finger Alliance as a site for urban food-growing) was found to be the only viable site.

I am not convinced that the other 16 proposals have been adequately considered and alternatives have been dismissed outright too soon. There has been no assessment by the West of England of what the sites are used for and how much they contribute towards sustainability, or acknowledgement of the negative impact of developing on the farm. Bristol City Council has said in its Development Framework Core Strategy that it wants to prioritise local food production, and the soil on the farm is in the top 3% for agricultural land quality. Development of the farm would also collapse Bristol’s Food City gold status bid.

In my previous comments on the West of England’s Joint Spatial Plan, I stressed the importance of protecting the land that is being used for urban food growing from development, alongside aiming to make more such land available for this use. I, therefore, urge the West of England to consider alternative locations for an M32 Park and Ride and for Sims Hill farm to be ruled out

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