Plans to radically change the road network in one part of South Bristol with 'modal filters' that create a series of cul-de-sac zones are alreading being met with stiff opposition, as the latest attempt by Bristol City Council to explain the idea to local residents continues.
The council's 'Liveable Neighbourhood' consultation team ventured into the heart of Southville last week, where it plans to install a dozen road blocks that stop vehicles but allow pedestrians and bikes through, as part of a much wider scheme that will eventually cover every road from Ashton Vale to Totterdown.
A petition has been started to 'stop Southville roadblocks'. It's already been signed by more than a thousand people, and the woman behind the petition, Liz Newton, was outside the Southville Centre on Tuesday afternoon to spread the word about it and the growing opposition to the South Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood.
The plan would divide the residential streets of Southville, from North Street to the river and from Asda to Greville Smyth Park, into four different zones - but only if you are driving a vehicle. Just like with the controversial East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood, that will be achieved with 'modal filters' - planters blocking off the ends of strategic roads.
These allow cyclists, pedestrians and people on e-scooters to go through, but block local residents' cars, ambulances and fire engines, vans and lorries. For the people of Southville, even those who don't have cars themselves, things would be different. Takeaway delivery drivers on mopeds would be fine - deliveries coming in vans will have to go into and out of each zone, and round the two main roads to enter a different zone. The idea is people would have a nicer environment to walk or cycle, with less vehicle traffic on the no-through roads.
In East Bristol, the project finally got going after huge protests and delays, earlier this year. Some love the peace of less traffic and finding themselves living in a no-through-road. Others hate the inconvenience. It's still, in theory at least, a pilot scheme, but before any data on the effects of the scheme in East Bristol is known, and before any final decision is taken, the council is pressing on in South Bristol.
People in Totterdown and Southville are first in line to get the modal filters, and so the council came to the area's main community hub of Southville with displays and maps for one of several consultation drop-in sessions for people to find out more about the plans.
Every table, every map and every council officer was surrounded by groups of people for the whole three hours - all the Southville sessions are scheduled during the daytime rather than in the evening. People pointed at the maps, asked questions, and explained why not being able to drive north from Upton Road, for instance, into the rest of the city via Coronation Road, would be a huge hardship.
The council officers listened and made notes, countered points, and tried to de-escalate the more furious of the residents.
There is always an inherent bias with events like these - people are always much more motivated to go along and have their say if it's about something that is going to happen that they don't like. Those who are happy with a new plan are less likely to go and tell a council officer that they love it. But inside and outside as they left, it was hard to find anyone who had a good word to say about the whole thing.
It's important not to understate the significance of Southville residents appearing to object in numbers to the Liveable Neighbourhood proposal - or at least those who turned up to the consultation event.
Southville, with its now-gentrified large Victorian terraces, its Play Out Streets, its Tobacco Factory, delis and cycle-friendly vibe, has long been synonymous in the city with a certain type of comfortably-off environmentally-friendly politics. There are no England flags down Stackpool Road.
Southville was the very first place in Bristol to elect a Green Party councillor, way back in 2006. The now retired Charlie Bolton was the city's first Green Party councillor 19 years ago and took his seat at City Hall in a party group of one. Now, the Greens have 34 councillors and Bristol is the biggest city in Britain they run, with almost half the seats at City Hall.
But outside the Southville Centre, people queued up to tell Bristol Live what they didn't like about their Green council's proposal.
"I feel like this is already a liveable neighbourhood," said Tanya, who lives just off North Street. "I can, and do, walk to all the shops I need, to schools, to somewhere like the Tobacco Factory. It's in range of the city centre and you can walk there too.
"I think what they are proposing is total overkill and will make life very difficult for people living in this area. For me, matchday parking and fixing tweaks around junctions, pavements, better things for cyclists, are far more important than this - it's just not needed," she added.
"It will increase the journey time for the people who drive, and massively increase traffic on the main roads around us, and presumably therefore increase pollution. Restricting access to the roads will mean more stand-offs when there's only one road in or out of these zones. We already have stand offs between delivery drivers every day," she added.
One more mature resident of Southville said she needed her car and will consider moving out of Southville if the plans go forward. "I feel like I will be trapped in my home," she told Bristol Live. "I feel I would have to move if this goes through, they are wrecking the area. There is an assumption by all the council officers and councillors proposing this that everyone is fit and able and can walk or cycle and having a car is a personal choice they could do without, really," she added.
"But that completely ignores disabled people, people with limited mobility, parents with loads of children, the elderly, and it is quite discriminatory," she explained. "I think it's also inherently unfair on the people who live on what the council are designating the 'main roads', who will see congestion far more often than they do now," she added.
One man in his 40s approached and offered a glimmer of hope for the council officers with their maps. "I'm supportive of a lot of it," he said. "A lot of what's in there is good, about making some roads one way, and having areas around the schools safer.
"But I'm not a fan of the modal filters and the cul-de-sacking of this area. There's no need, it's just not needed," he added.
One woman, who declined to be named, said she will find herself in the 'green zone' on the new Southville map. She described herself as an avowed environmentalist. "I don't drive, I don't have a car, I don't fly either. I'm really, really committed to that. I'm not judging anyone that does, but it's just that I can't do it because I don't want to contribute to the damage to the environment," she explained.
Surely she would be in favour of something that would make driving around Southville harder, if not impossible, and therefore make cycling and walking easier? "I'm a fan of solid, reliable public transport, and we do not have that at all in Southville," she said.
"I cannot support this until there is reliable public transport here. It's a carrot and stick approach without the carrot. There's also an unheard voice of disabled people and older people who aren't being listened to here.
"And there's an equality issue here too for the people who live on Coronation Road and North Street, who will find more congestion. The data from East Bristol isn't in yet, we don't know how much pollution around the outside of the area has changed, so this seems premature.
"Every successful low-traffic neighbourhood is a success because there is solid public transport infrastructure, and there simply isn't one here," she added.
The demographics of Southville has changed a lot in the past 25 years, as 'gentrification' arrived. But there are still 'old Southville' residents, like one man who became emotional outside the Southville Centre. He explained how his ageing parents' lives would be radically changed by the proposals.
"My dad is 93 and my mum is 87. They're fine and my dad is still driving. They live over that side," he said, gesturing behind him to the north west of the Southville Centre, "and they don't go far. He'll drive her down to the hairdressers on North Street, and they drive down to the doctors, and to the pharmacy. They'll have to go the other way, onto Coronation Road and all the way round - my dad won't want to do that at all. He's just not going to. At the moment it's a two minute journey for him - one they couldn't do on foot - but this will turn it into a 15-20 minute battle with the main road traffic," he added.
Rather than having an actual petition to sign, Liz Newton stood outside the centre with a QR code, encouraging people to sign the petition online.
"It just seems so unnecessary. It's not like Southville is a nightmare for people cutting through in cars, or speeding fast," she said. "It's a nice place already, and there are already a few no through roads, and no entry signs dotted around," she added.
"Southville has a lot of parents with children, and this feels like it's going to divide up communities people have created for themselves. So, for instance, all the mums do lift shares to take kids to clubs somewhere else in Bristol at weekends or after school, and will go around picking up the other kids from nearby streets.
"It will mean that can't really happen anymore, because one child will live in the blue zone, one in the green and the other in the orange zone," she added.
For anyone who has followed the controversy over the East Bristol Neighbourhood, the opposition in South Bristol feels familiar.
The council began the 'consultation' process last year by telling South Bristol residents it had 'no plan' and a blank page, and only wanted to find out what the issues were around parking, cycling, roads, walking, speeding, and the public area in their neighbourhood.
It took that information and came back with a plan almost identical in principle to the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood. But the council hasn't accompanied that with the information that the entire 'Liveable Neighbourhood' scheme - which includes all the improvements to pavements, cycle paths and junctions - will only be funded by the Government grant if it includes modal filters and the 'cul-de-sacking' of the entire area.
"We don't believe the consultation process has been adequate or transparent," said Liz Newton. "Many residents do not feel properly informed of the details of the proposals. Details such as road blocks are presented towards the end of the consultation survey after much of the response has been gathered.
"We are also concerned that the consultation process has not allowed space for objections or alternative ideas, and that key data, such as traffic modelling and emergency access plans, has not been shared," she added.
At the start of the consultation process, Cllr Ed Plowden (Green, Windmill Hill), chair of the transport policy committee, said: "The proposals we are putting forward aim to make South Bristol a safer and healthier place to live, with quiet streets that are less congested and polluted. They would make it easier to travel by bus, walk and cycle, with a particular focus on making sure children can get to school safely.
"These proposals would still see all areas of the neighbourhoods accessible for motorised vehicles and Blue Badge holders, but routes may change. We recognise that the topic of liveable neighbourhoods generate strong and differing views. While some welcome the changes, others have concerns about how liveable neighbourhoods might affect daily life.
"This is why we're taking all possible opportunities to learn from previous projects in the city, observe how these schemes are being introduced elsewhere in the country and gather as many views as possible to evolve designs to meet the community's needs. We want to hear from as many people as possible during this consultation."