The Bradley Stoke Journal

Councillors on Bradley Stoke Town Council’s Planning Committee have taken exception to proposals from South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) to install a number of ‘raised table’ cycle crossings in the town.

As reported last month, SGC has opened a consultation on plans to install the crossings on Baileys Court Road, Fiddlers Wood Lane and across the access road to Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre.

The crossings will bring the carriageway up to the level of the footway, allowing cyclists and wheelchair users to cross the road without a change in level.

In a unanimous decision, Councillors voted to object to the scheme on the grounds of “unnecessary expense; raised tables offering no protection to cyclists; causing damage to vehicles; and slowing the passage of emergency vehicles”.

The motion was proposed by Cllr John Ashe, who also drew the meeting’s attention to a statement in the SGC proposals that claims the crossings can “help to maintain the low speed of traffic within any 20mph zone”, adding that he feared this could be the first step towards introducing unwanted 20mph speed limits in the town.

The crossings are part of the Cycling City Route 3 scheme, which will link Parkway Station to Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre.

Construction work has recently started on parts of the scheme, including the installation of a short stretch of new cyclepath along Bradley Stoke Way, close to its junction with Fiddlers Wood Lane.

It is seems unlikely that the Councillors’ objection will prevent the crossings being implemented as the current consultation is on the Highways Act notice that represents the final stage of the approval process.

A widely-publicised month-long public consultation on the whole Cycling City Route 3 scheme was held in September 2009 but Councillors failed to discuss it at any of their meetings held around that time.

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South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) has opened a public consultation on plans for a number of ‘raised table’ cycle crossings within Bradley Stoke.

The proposed crossings are part of Cycling City Route 3, which will link Parkway Station to Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre.

The Statement of Reasons document published by the Council explains:

These crossing points consist of a raised table section bringing the carriageway up to the footway level. This allows pedestrians, cyclists and wheelchair users to cross the carriageway with no change in gradient or level. It also raises the visibility and priority of vulnerable users to the same physical level as the traffic. The crossing can also help maintain the low speed of traffic within any 20mph zone.

The new crossings are to be installed at the following locations:

• Across Baileys Court Road, between its junctions with Sherbourne Avenue and Meadow Way
• Across Fiddlers Wood Lane, close to its junction with Bradley Stoke Way
• Across the access road into Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre

Each crossing will consist of a gentle ramped approach up to the existing level of the footway and then a flat table.

In contrast to the speed bumps used on Brook Way and other roads in the town, the raised crossings will present a ‘full carriageway width’ obstacle to road vehicles. Bus companies and ambulance services are known to have previously objected to such features on the grounds of passenger discomfort.

Residents have until Wednesday 10th March to register comments on the proposals.

More information:

• Consultation Documents (SGC)
• Respond to the Consultation (SGC)

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A proposed rapid transit scheme that could see a high-speed bus service linking Bristol city centre with Bradley Stoke has had its scope extended to include Cribbs Causeway.

The move, endorsed at a meeting of the West of England Partnership’s (WoEP) Joint Transport Executive (JTE) Committee on Thursday, is said to be “in response to the views of the public expressed during consultation”.

The £197 million scheme was originally planned to run as far as the Aztec West Business Park, but will now continue on to The Mall at Cribbs Causeway, via Patchway.

A report submitted to the JTE Committee states that:

“… the route [to Cribbs Causeway] adds benefits to the package and the cost of this additional section can be incorporated into the funding available.”

The report also states that the service between Bristol and Cribbs Causeways, nominally numbered X90, will operate with a 10 minute frequency.

The scheme is part of the larger North Fringe to Hengrove Package, which also incorporates a new Stoke Gifford by-pass and a park and ride facility beside the M32 at Stapleton.

If implemented, the scheme will see special ‘bendy buses’ running on dedicated lanes along the full length of Bradley Stoke Way.

The latest plans foresee four stops in the town: Bradley Stoke South (Baileys Court), The Willow Brook Centre, Patchway Brook Roundabout (Aldi) and Woodlands Lane.

The proposals must now be approved by the Cabinets of South Gloucestershire Council (meeting on 1st March) and Bristol City Council (25th March) before a bid is submitted to the government’s Department of Transport.

The Journal Comments

This scheme has a long way to go before it gets the green light from central government. It is already a large project and the extension to Cribbs Causeway adds yet more complexity.

This factor, combined with the expected pressure on government expenditure over the next few years, leaves the project vulnerable to cancellation or curtailment.

The latest report from the WoEP describes the route between UWE and Bristol city centre as being the “core section” of the scheme. So does that mean that anything beyond this might be sacrificed when budgets come under pressure?

MPs and Councillors representing Bradley Stoke need to be active in stressing the importance of the Stoke Gifford by-pass and the need for a high-speed, reliable, bus service for our town.

More information and related links:

• Report to the WoEP JTE Committee, 4th Feb 2010 [PDF, 735KB]
• North Fringe Rapid Transit (The Journal)

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Local bus operator First Group has announced further cuts to services between Bradley Stoke and Bristol city centre.

The 73 service, which currently runs every 12 minutes during off-peak day time hours from Monday to Saturday, will operate at a reduced frequency of every 15 minutes from Monday 8th February.

The company says it is making the changes to “improve punctuality”.

Other changes on the route will see a few extra early morning journeys serving Cribbs Causeway.

The latest cut back follows the axing of the 74 and 74X services in February last year, which led to then Bradley Stoke Mayor Robert Jones describing the bus company’s actions as “death by a thousand cuts”.

The announcement is accompanied by a rare piece of good news for bus travellers: some multi-journey tickets are to become slightly cheaper. For example, the price of a First Day Adult Peak ticket will be reduced from £4.30 to £4 from Sunday 7th February.

Related link:

• Bus Services in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)

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A scheme to add a bus lane on the northbound carriageway of the A38 between Little Stoke and the Aztec West Roundabout has been amended after a public consultation.

The scheme, first announced by South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) in September, replaced an earlier proposal for a more comprehensive system of new bus and general traffic lanes on roads leading off the Aztec West Roundabout.

That earlier plan was abandoned after First Group changed the route of its 73 service so that it no longer entered the Aztec West Business Park.

The new scheme foresees the creation of a new bus lane (with no reduction in the number of general traffic lanes) on the A38 between the Little Stoke junction (near the Texaco filling station) and the Aztec West Roundabout.

The public consultation attracted 32 responses from individuals and business. The council says it also received two petitions opposing the scheme from residents and businesses in the Patchway and Bradley Stoke areas, containing a combined total of over 300 signatures.

Residents of properties along the A38 said they were concerned about the loss of the existing service lane, which they say helps them to merge into the traffic flow on the main road. They also complained about the loss of parking space and pointed out that customers of the Ambourne House Nursery would no longer be able to queue in the service lane whilst waiting to enter the premises.

The council says that it has now revised its plans following the public feedback:

• The bus lane will operate at peak hours only (7.30am – 9.30am and 4.00pm – 7.00pm)
• Residents will be allowed to pick up and set down passengers while the bus lane is in operation
• A bus lay-by made redundant by the scheme will converted to a limited waiting bay, primarily to serve as an overspill car park for the Ambourne House Nursery

The Journal Comments

While the proposed changes will undoubtedly speed bus journeys between Bristol and Aztec West (and beyond to Thornbury), they will bring little benefit for the residents of Bradley Stoke. It is therefore wrong for the council to present this scheme as a replacement for the earlier Aztec West bus lane scheme, which included two new general traffic lanes on Bradley Stoke Way between the Aztec West Roundabout and Woodlands Lane.

Those new general traffic lanes would have helped ease the notorious traffic congestion that occurs between Woodlands Lane and the Aztec West Roundabout.

SGC has failed to respond to The Journal’s request for an official  statement on the status of the original Bradley Stoke Way plans, but a council representative manning the recent North Fringe Rapid Transit exhibition at Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre inferred that the original scheme has indeed been superseded by the rapid transit plans.

The bus rapid transit system, which is subject to government funding and will not be built before 2013/2014, will see two dedicated bus lanes running between the Aztec West Business Park and Bristol city centre. Regrettably, there is currently no suggestion that this scheme will include any improvements for general traffic flow on Bradley Stoke Way.

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