The Bradley Stoke Journal

A major transport scheme that includes the building of a Stoke Gifford by-pass and the introduction of a fast and reliable bus service between Bradley Stoke and Bristol city centre has taken a big step forward with the award of £51 million of Government funding.

Work on the £102 million North Fringe to Hengrove Package, which will also be funded by Bristol City Council (BCC) and South Gloucestershire Council (SGC), is scheduled to start in two years time, subject to successfully overcoming regulatory hurdles that are expected to include a public inquiry.

The Stoke Gifford by-pass, running from the Parkway North Roundabout on Great Stoke Way to the Avon Ring Road (emerging opposite the Holiday Inn), will provide Bradley Stoke motorists with a more direct route to junction 1 of the M32 at Hambrook, avoiding the notorious bottlenecks at the Parkway Station railway bridge and the Abbey Wood Roundabout.

Public transport users will benefit from a new bus-only junction onto the M32, where Stoke Lane crosses over the motorway, close to the Dower House.

Within Bradley Stoke, a number of new bus lanes will be constructed along Bradley Stoke Way – without reducing the number of lanes available for general traffic. For more details, take a look at The Journal’s interactive map of the rapid transit route or consult the detailed route plans [PDF, 63.7MB] submitted with the official bid to the Department for Transport (DfT).

Statutory orders for the scheme are due to be published by June next year and a public inquiry could start in December 2012. On-site work is scheduled to start in December 2013 and the new by-pass and ‘rapid’ bus service should be open/operational by December 2016.

More: South Glos Council chooses not to publish funding plans »

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The chances of Bradley Stoke gaining a fast and reliable bus service linking the town with the centre of Bristol have become significantly slimmer following an announcement made by Chancellor George Osborne in last week’s Autumn Statement.

The £97 million North Fringe to Hengrove Bus Rapid Transit Package failed to appear in a list of 20 projects winning a total of £386 million of funding from the Department for Transport, in contrast to two South Bristol schemes which together picked up £61.1 million of Government money.

The North Bristol scheme is now left in the remaining pool of 25 projects, fighting for a residual £244 million that is due to be handed out before the end of the year.

South Gloucestershire Council and Bristol City Council have jointly asked the Government for a £51.1 million contribution to the scheme but the central funding pot is now oversubscribed by 249%, up from 96% before the Autumn Statement.

If the scheme fails to attract Government funding, the bus service aspect of the scheme is likely to be dropped but South Gloucestershire Council would be left to foot the full cost of the Stoke Gifford by-pass, which will still have to be constructed to support the building of 2,000 new homes on land between the Winterbourne Road and the Avon Ring Road (the ‘East of Harry Stoke’ new neighbourhood foreseen in the Council’s Core Strategy).

The by-pass, known officially as the Stoke Gifford Transport Link, will link Great Stoke Way with the Ring Road via a new bridge over the London to Bristol railway line.

More: What the scheme would mean for Bradley Stoke »

South Gloucestershire Council’s (SGC’s) Cabinet has approved the submission to the Department for Transport (DfT) of a bid for £51 million of government funding towards a bus rapid transit scheme that would link link Cribbs Causeway with Bristol city centre via Bradley Stoke.

The £102 million scheme, known as the North Fringe to Hengrove Package, promises to provide a “fast, frequent and reliable public transport service linking the areas of Cribbs Causeway, Aztec West and Emersons Green with Bristol city centre and with Hengrove to the south of the city.”

Locally, the project includes the construction of a Stoke Gifford by-pass, providing a much-needed road link between the south of Bradley Stoke and the Avon Ring Road, emerging between Junction 1 of the M32 and the University of the West of England [see map].

The scheme promises to provide a ten minute frequency service on the route, using “modern, accessible, comfortable and low-emission vehicles” (tram-like ‘bendy buses’ are shown in promotional material).

When the scheme was originally proposed in 2009, it was costed at £194 million, with the DfT giving “in principle” approval for £170 million of funding with SGC and Bristol City Council making up the difference.

Since then, central government has announced a massive reduction in the amount of money available for transport projects. This led to the two local Councils submitting a revised bid in December 2010, in which costs were reduced to the current total of £102 million. In the process, SGC’s share of the total cost has rocketed from 10% (£20M) to 30% (£30.5M).

A ‘best and final’ bid will now go to the DfT by 9th September and a decision is expected to be announced in December.

If the application is successful, planning applications for the scheme will be prepared by April 2012 and a public inquiry will be held in Autumn 2012.

Construction could then start in Autumn 2013 and parts of the scheme could come into operation during 2015.

Read on for details of the latest rapid transit proposals for Bradley Stoke »

Bradley Stoke Radio stages its own version of Question Time tonight when a panel of local politicians take part in a live debate on “the key issues facing people in Bradley Stoke”.

The event, compered by Julian Okoye, will hear representatives of the three main parties debate questions sent in by listeners.

Mr Okoye told The Journal:

“The intention is that the debate will cover mainly local issues pertaining to Bradley Stoke and surroundings but inevitably, as people don’t live in a box, some national issues may be touched upon as well.”

The participants in the studio are expected to be (pictured left to right above):

• Cllr Ben Walker (Conservative)
• Jon Williams (Liberal Democrat)
• Jonathan Moore (Labour)

All three panelists contested the Bradley Stoke North ward in the recent district election, which saw Cllr Walker claim the seat by a margin of 139 votes over Mr Williams, the previous holder.

In an email to the panelists, Mr Okoye wrote:

“I will generally be my nice gentle friendly self but I won’t shy away from asking difficult or tough questions and I am sure you won’t expect me to be a soft touch either.”

The public are invited to submit question for the debate to: julian@bradleystokeradio.org.uk

Read on for questions The Editor would like to hear answered »

A proposed rapid transit scheme that could see a high-speed bus service linking Bradley Stoke with Bristol city centre and Cribbs Causeway has made it through to the final stage of a competitive process to secure  Government funding.

The North Fringe to Hengrove Package (NFtHP), a bus rapid transit scheme linking north and south Bristol, which had previously been assigned to the second-tier “pre-qualification” pool, has now been promoted to the top-tier “development” pool of 45 proposed transport projects competing for £630m of Government funding.

An announcement by the Department for Transport (DfT) last Friday (4th February) stated:

“The Department hopes to fund the majority of the schemes now in the development pool subject to their business cases being of an acceptable standard. However, the total likely funding request to DfT is nearly £950m, so the process remains competitive and local authorities will need to look for further savings to stand a good chance of funding.”

The DfT says it will decide on the schemes to be funded by the end of 2011.

The scheme is doubly important to the Bradley Stoke area because as well as promising much improved bus services it also incorporates the building of a Stoke Gifford by-pass, linking Great Stoke Way with the Avon Ring Road via a new bridge over the London to Bristol railway line.

The West of England Partnership (WoEP), which is fronting the NFtHP bid on behalf of South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) and Bristol City Council, originally estimated the total cost of the scheme at £194m with £170m funded by the Government and £24 from local sources.

In the latest submission to the DfT at the beginning of January, big cuts to the scope of the scheme saw the total cost reduced to £102m with a Government contribution of £51m and  local funding rocketing from 12% to 50% of the total.

Read on: How the scheme has been slashed to reduce costs »

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)