News on East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood

Councillor Donald Alexander, Cabinet member for Transport, has published a Mayor’s blog about the next stage of the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood pilot.

In it he sets out how we are putting together plans for how a series of measures in the design toolkit can be trialled on the ground, based on local feedback through two rounds of community engagement.

The trial will bring together a combinations of measures, including pocket parks, cycle hangars and new road layouts, so the concept of the Liveable Neighbourhood and changes on local streets can be tested before designing a permanent scheme.

Interventions for main roads, such as pedestrian crossings, junctions, and continuous footways, cannot be trialled as they are permanent solutions. This does not mean that they will not be included in the final scheme, which we’ll design based on the trial and further community engagement.

Bristol City Council’s Cabinet will meet on 4 April to review and decide whether to progress to the next stage of project with the introduction of the trial scheme, further engagement on a permanent scheme, and the development of a full business case.

If approved, we would then work with the West of England Combined Authority to identify the £1.34 million needed to fund this next stage.

Overall, the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood pilot, including both the trial and permanent scheme, is projected to cost in the region of £5.8 million, which is a huge investment into east Bristol.

The costs will be met by the West of England Combined Authority using funding set aside for Liveable Neighbourhoods from the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement. This is being supported by over £290,000 of EU Horizon funding.

In May and June we’ll be hosting workshops and walkabouts across the pilot area to show how the trial scheme could work, before formally consulting on the proposed changes in the summer.

We’ll send out more information about this in the coming weeks.

Over the trial we will continue to talk to the community to help shape the permanent scheme.