HARTCLIFFE AND WITHYWOOD VENTURES OPPOSE RING ROAD

One of the points made by Bristol City council to justify the proposed South Bristol Ring Road is the facilitation of investment for the regeneration of South Bristol. Nowhere in the Greater Bristol Strategic Transport Study, the Joint Local Transport Plan nor the Regional Spatial Strategy is there any evidence to support this premise. The Alliance believes that the economic benefits are unproven while the environmental damage that the road will cause is all too clear to local people. Significant regeneration has already taken place, is underway or planned in the area without the existence of a Ring Road e.g. the new hospital, new leisure pool, Imperial Retail Park, the redevelopment of Symes Avenue.
It is of note that Hartcliffe and Withywood Ventures share the view of the Alliance and have recently issued the following statement, which highlights all that is wrong about the building of the Ring Road.

 

Statement from:-

Hartcliffe and Withywood Ventures

The South Bristol Ring Road – A Statement

Hartcliffe and Withywood Ventures (HWV) is a not a for private profit local economic and community development trust founded by local people in 1985.  The board of directors, who are also charitable trustees, are mainly local residents.

HWV is a significant local employer of around 100 people.  It owns and manages the Gatehouse Centre which includes business units, training space, a café and a nursery.  The Centre is used by hundreds of people from the local area and further afield every week.

It is against this background that the directors of HWV have decided to make a statement on the proposed ring road.

If we felt that there were any significant advantages flowing from this proposal we would support it.
We do not believe that the arguments in favour of a new road are convincing.
We base our objection on economic, social and environmental grounds, although of course each of these impacts on the other.
We consider the proposed ring road an outdated approach to the management of transport issues and support central government policy that road building should be a “last resort” intervention.

1. The Economic Case
Supporters of the road claim that there will be economic benefits and jobs generated.  We would argue that:

  1. Unemployment, as measured by Job Seekers Allowance claimants in Hartcliffe and Withywood is currently at 2.2 %( BCC JULY2006) - a historically low figure and only 0.1% above the Bristol rate.  The local rate has closely mirrored the city-wide rate for several years;
  2. The majority of the adult population who are not working are not currently active job seekers but likely to be people disadvantaged in the labour market. These people need support with issues such as childcare, training, confidence building and basic skills if they are to enter employment or training. Our experience has taught us that they are also likely to seek jobs close to home rather than in the City Centre or North Bristol;
  3. There has been major public and private sector investment in the area in recent years without a ring road, notably the Imperial Retail Park on the former Will’s site and the redevelopment of Symes Avenue, led by Morrison’s supermarket.  Major retailers – (Imperial Park includes B&Q, Woolworths, Argos, JJB Sports, Allied Carpets, and Pizza Hut – with Next and Tesco about to come) – do not invest in places people find it hard to get to.

     Cater Business Park has been upgraded and is almost fully occupied. 
     The former Parkers Bakery was divided into medium-size business
      units and is fully let. 
      Our conclusion is that the current road infrastructure does not
      appear to be deterring inward investment and job creation.

  1. A ring road would have some economic disadvantages:
    1. There is already evidence of impact on house prices through planning blight;
    2. Roads take people through places as well as to them and could, as has happened in the past, lead to businesses relocating nearer to motorway networks or in adjacent local authority areas with lower business rates with a resulting loss of local jobs;
  2. The ring road is seen by some as necessary to expansion of the airport, whose website states that flight volumes have increased by a factor of five since 1987, again with no significant changes to the road infrastructure.

     Further expansion will not necessarily be of local economic benefit.

2. Social Issues
We feel strongly that a road along the currently ‘reserved’ route will divide communities.  A dual carriageway will impede peoples’ access to amenities and open spaces and will have a disproportionate impact on young people, the elderly and those without access to private motor vehicles. 
It will create a physical barrier between where children live and where they go to school.
Residents in long established neighbourhoods will be divided and the isolation of many will be increased rather than enhanced as pedestrian access to facilities – shopping, banks, leisure and recreation are made more difficult.

 

3. Environmental
Inevitably any new roads have environmental impacts in the loss of green open space as would occur along the Dundry Slopes, adjacent to the Gatehouse Centre and on Highridge Common.

Increased noise and air pollution will result – and this will be worsened if the road enables airport expansion to take place.
This effect will be worsened through road congestion. Whichever route the road might take crosses existing roads. This will mean a need for traffic lights, roundabouts and other traffic management measures and a knock- on effect of slower journey times and delays on these existing routes. In other areas the result of this has been an increase of congestion, noise and pollution in residential streets as drivers as car and particularly commercial vehicle drivers have sought to avoid bottlenecks.

In conclusion we feel that the arguments made above outweigh any potential local benefits of a new ring road, particularly in an area of low car ownership, and we oppose its development.
We will actively support the development of alternative solutions as opposed to an outdated and costly investment of little or no long term local benefit.