[hawkinspeter]

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/through-traffic-banned-parts-bristol-8295492

This should be introduced towards the end of this year as an experimental trial – I wish it could happen sooner as it covers where I live. We had questionnaires about it during lockdown, though I think that was just about making Beaufort Rd (by the cemetery) one way to motorised traffic.

Topic

[hawkinspeter]

chrisonabike wrote:

slc wrote:

I reckon that this  housing devleopment on stilts, above the car-park within an actual-park, and just on the edge of the LTN , will interest you. See if you can guess what the main point of discussion was at the time :)

Ah, a brilliant find!

In the spirit of that – perhaps all the residents could volunteer to have car parking installed on top of their houses?  Or have the vehicles installed downstairs – like some of places on Church Road or Seneca Street seem to have?

I mean, if it fights discrimination, helps the ambulances get through, reduces congestion and fighting over parking spaces…

I remember when the corner of Seneca Street had a 24-hour petrol station there instead.

Mind you, I remember when Ebeneezer Street had a porn film studio there rather than the current HMO. https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/former-porn-studio-become-flats-63770

[slc]

Barton Hill resident with
Barton Hill resident with complex needs depends on their car but still supports the scheme.

https://www.bristol247.com/opinion/your-say/if-the-east-bristol-liveable-neighbourhood-got-taken-away-i-would-be-really-upset/

[slc]

An excellent plan. In fact

An excellent plan. In fact the Church Road site has parking spaces for rent from time to time, which are snapped up, though not quite as quickly as the bike hanger spaces that were installed as part of the LTN. 

[chrisonabike]

slc wrote:

slc wrote:

I reckon that this  housing devleopment on stilts, above the car-park within an actual-park, and just on the edge of the LTN , will interest you. See if you can guess what the main point of discussion was at the time :)

Ah, a brilliant find!

In the spirit of that – perhaps all the residents could volunteer to have car parking installed on top of their houses?  Or have the vehicles installed downstairs – like some of places on Church Road or Seneca Street seem to have?

I mean, if it fights discrimination, helps the ambulances get through, reduces congestion and fighting over parking spaces…

[slc]

chrisonabike wrote:

I do think we’d have better odds with provision of some kind of central-but local off-street parking, but a) people would still say it was ruining their lives having to walk / carry things to the car, b) it would be immensely expensive and take years if not decades to get built and c) in many places where would we put it?  Even if putting it (partly) underground there’d need to be space to build it.

 

I reckon that this  housing devleopment on stilts, above the car-park within an actual-park, and just on the edge of the LTN , will interest you. See if you can guess what the main point of discussion was at the time 🙂

https://maps.app.goo.gl/qtWjVjj4FMWbu6xH7

(and heading in , but back in time)

https://maps.app.goo.gl/t342UEFXoxof1HeR6

 

 

 

[Bmblbzzz]

Melissa Topping spoke at

Melissa Topping spoke at length at Saturday’s Crips Against Cuts demonstration on College Green. She started by attacking one of the previous speakers – “The woman with green hair has never been a friend of mine” – and went on in similar vein about how EBLN will mean she can’t leave her house. She is actually, in her own words, “A lot less disabled than [other person]” (she uses a walker but not a wheelchair, in this case) but that, of course, doesn’t mean it’s feasible for her to get around by walking or public transport. Perhaps surprisingly, she didn’t get that much applause. 

I was there with a disabled friend, who, like many disabled people, cannot and never will drive, in her case due to vision and balance – both of which also mean she really values unobstructed pavements and roads which are easy to cross, or even walk in. 

[chrisonabike]

hawkinspeter wrote:

That makes more sense as I imagine reversing would be tricky if you have reduced mobility. Byron St doesn’t look that narrow in my opinion though – it’s certainly got more space than my road and we get vans and large vehicles navigating through

It’s not terribly narrow, except for some reason there doesn’t seem much space.  If only I could put my finger on how both of those things could be true…  But anyway, down with this ableist, anti-people LTN scheme that’s making additional problems for just a hair over half the households who have motor vehicles!

I do think we’d have better odds with provision of some kind of central-but local off-street parking, but a) people would still say it was ruining their lives having to walk / carry things to the car, b) it would be immensely expensive and take years if not decades to get built and c) in many places where would we put it?  Even if putting it (partly) underground there’d need to be space to build it.

[slc]

hawkinspeter wrote:

… Byron St doesn’t look that narrow in my opinion though – it’s certainly got more space than my road and we get vans and large vehicles navigating through.

My first thought on hearing the story a few weeks ago was: could BCC not offer MT some training with (for example) whoever trains the refuse truck drivers, plus a radar kit?  But I imagine everyone is too far down the wedge of opposition for that now.

 

[hawkinspeter]

slc wrote:

slc wrote:

Fair enough. She doesn’t strike me as someone easy to please. I wondered if the article was just a bit poorly edited (elsewhere it has MT talking about traffic *arming* ) and it was the long reverse rather than driving per se that was painful.

That makes more sense as I imagine reversing would be tricky if you have reduced mobility. Byron St doesn’t look that narrow in my opinion though – it’s certainly got more space than my road and we get vans and large vehicles navigating through.

[slc]

chrisonabike wrote:

chrisonabike wrote:

… how some people park their vehicles.

You seem to be forgetting the first article in our great constitution. A citizen has the right to store motor vehicles immediately outside their lawful abode, and should that be prevented by any means whatsoever (for example a neighbour exercising their own right to own and store multiple motor vehicles), then are obliged to deposit their vehicle as close by as physically possible, that obligation taking priority over the usual prohibitions on obstruction, occlusion and so on.

[slc]

Fair enough. She doesn’t
Fair enough. She doesn’t strike me as someone easy to please. I wondered if the article was just a bit poorly edited (elsewhere it has MT talking about traffic *arming* ) and it was the long reverse rather than driving per se that was painful.

[chrisonabike]

The picture of the van looks

The picture of the van looks similar to others which were visible in streetview.  That doesn’t mean it’s always going to be possible, BUT it looks like that depends on how others have parked their vehicles.

She says it is too risky for her large van to be driven through the narrow street as it could hit parked cars (and all this is causing her anxiety).  BUT I’m pretty sure that depends on how others have parked their vehicles.

Bristol247 wrote:

“I can’t get down the safe clear entrance that I would normally use,” Melissa said. “They’ve also got a locked metal pole halfway down because they know that Byron Street is not accessible by emergency vehicles. So they’ve left that so that other vehicles can use the streets further up, but of course I can’t.

I’m guessing the issue is she couldn’t physically deal with that even if she had a key.  Automated bollards could fix that, but that would definitely be “is this (probably serious cost) a reasonable adjustment for a (very) small number of people plus maybe emergency services”?

There’s some back and forth with claims that e.g. “larger emergency service vehicles, or any trader with a larger van, cannot access several roads across Barton Hill, Redfield and St George” (by this person), the paper saying that paramedics sometimes ditch their vehicle and walk the rest of the way, “one firefighter who lives within the EBLN trial area” saying this might make response times a bit longer.  Council of course is pushing back on those claims. For all of this, I wonder if that really depends on how some have parked their vehicles?

But apparently “48 per cent of households in Lawrence Hill ward own no car or van”.  So already it’s just about “adjustments for those who want to park their vehicles (only just the majority)”.

To be fair the the residents I think their comments about trying to set up discussions but nothing happening (presumably after they found the final version of the scheme) ring true.  And there is also probably truth in the council’s account of “this trial has been extensively consulted on over three years and has been co-designed with members of the community”.

Unfortunately local politics sometimes takes a long time and finally delivers a result; not necessarily a good one, or the people’s favourite one, or even one that many people wanted.

And it doesn’t look like any of this really affects how some people park their vehicles.

[hawkinspeter]

brooksby wrote:

brooksby wrote:

In order to access Victoria Avenue in her van, Melissa now drives around to Church Road, passes through Cobden Street and then reverses into her parking space. Melissa says this longer route means she has to endure extra pain due to her disabilities.

But she can drive long distances to go on holiday in this thing just fine? Alrighty then 

I’m starting to have less sympathy for her

[brooksby]

Quote:

In order to access Victoria Avenue in her van, Melissa now drives around to Church Road, passes through Cobden Street and then reverses into her parking space. Melissa says this longer route means she has to endure extra pain due to her disabilities.

But she can drive long distances to go on holiday in this thing just fine? Alrighty then 

[slc]

There is a fairly complete
There is a fairly complete description of Ms Topping’s circumstances here

https://www.bristol247.com/news-and-features/news/locked-blocked-liveable-neighbourhood/

Commenters elsewhere have expressed scepticism: after all the refuse truck does drive along the contested Byron Rd. That seems a little harsh to me.

[Author]

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