Kingsdown Conservation Group

The City Council’s traffic engineers have sent us a summary of the points made in the consultation on their plans for Marlborough Hill, and have given a detailed response to each of the points. You can download their document here: marlborough-hill-consultation-results. The main points are listed below, with the Council’s response summarised in italics:

The pavement-widening is on the wrong side, both for pedestrians and for deterring illegal downhill vehicle traffic. This was to bring the west-side pavement up to a better width. Sharing the widening between the two sides would have been much more expensive and would have made the turn from Marlborough Hill Place difficult.  In practice it won’t make any difference to traffic which side is widened – people who want to break the law and drive down will do so.

Other suggestions for slowing traffic – alligator teeth, a downhill cycle lane, weight limit, speed limit, ’shared space’ paving, change of priorities against uphill traffic, wider western footway extended all down the hill, speed bumps – were all either not allowed by regulations, too expensive, or ineffective.

Some signs will be illuminated because regulations require that. The suggestion of a “two-way traffic” sign in Eugene Street was accepted.

What happens next? David Sarson, the responsible Traffic Engineer, says: “I intend to leave a couple of weeks now, in case anyone wishes to respond to my response, following which I will progress the detail design and assemble the contract prior to commencing site works. The works will probable necessitate a road closure which will take approximately six to eight weeks to procure so I will get that started asap (it can always be postponed); we are therefore realistically looking at an earliest works start date of early to mid May.”

So, if you have views, please just add a comment below and copy it to David Sarson: david.sarson@bristol.gov.uk

THE PROPOSED RESIDENTS’ PARKING SCHEME (RPZ)

The City has circulated 50,000 copies of the RTZ consultation paper and questionnaire.  If you haven’t received your copy, download it from http://tinyurl.com/6h5ydx or get a copy from the Planning Department at Brunel House.

KCG’s Committee discussed the RPZ at their committee meeting on the 22nd July and believe that they must say what they think about the proposals.

Years ago the City proposed to extend the Central Controlled Parking to include Kingsdown.  Kingsdown’s residents then held divided opinions.  The City said that the majority of residents voted to accept the scheme, which did not proceed.  We don’t need to tell you how since then, residents’ parking problems have grown worse; year on year.  Now, there are many more houses in multiple-occupation, more students’ cars and saturation commuter parking.

Cars park on pavements and damage them.  Cars park on corners and make them impassable.  Parked cars block streets.  Some weeks the refuse is not collected because parked cars make a street impassable.  Last year, a Fire Service tender couldn’t drive down Somerset Street to fight a house fire.

If the RPZ proceeds, KCG will do all that it can to ensure that the implementation is done sensitively without damage to the setting of the conservation area by a plethora of signs and yellow lines.

DOING NOTHING ISN’T ANY LONGER AN OPTION.
OPINIONS MAY STILL BE DIVIDED, BUT OPPONENTS OF THE PLAN TO GIVE KINGSDOWN RESIDENTS PARKING PRIORITY OWE IT TO EVERYONE TO PUT FORWARD AN ALTERNATIVE PROPOSAL.
IN 2009 THE PARKING CHAOS WILL BE EVEN WORSE THAN TODAY.

KCG members may recall that we have not taken a formal view for or against the RPZ, because there was no clear consensus among our membership when the Council last published detailed proposals three years ago.

However, it is now very much a hot topic again, and we are grateful to Roger Mortimer of the Redland and Cotham Amenities Society, who has kindly given us permission to make available his recent short paper. In it he sets out some of the key questions that need to be answered before residents can take an informed view about whether the proposed RPZ will be of benefit. Download the paper as a Word document here.

Thanks to Kingsdown resident Ian Abrahams for passing on the following information received from sally.lloyd@bristol.gov.uk:

On 15th November 2007 Bristol City Council’s Cabinet agreed a report on the introduction of Residents Parking Zones around the City Centre to minimise the impact of commuter parking in residential areas.

You can download the full report (PDF 32pp 4.3MB) from the council website.

Over the next few weeks we will be setting up a web page under the heading of Bristol Residents Parking Project. The web page will explain the intended basic operational principles and will have a section of frequently asked questions, to help explain to people how such a scheme will impact on them. There will be an opportunity for individuals to comment and an e-mail address to send any additional queries to. We will publicise the setting up of the site and currently expect the web page to be operational towards the end of March 2008. You may however wish to keep an eye on progress by checking on the Bristol City Council Website.

The Citizens Panel were asked for their views on the operational principles of Residents Parking in February 2008, and their responses will be analysed and reported on in March. The next stage will be to embark on a large-scale consultation exercise covering the Inner and Outer Rings that are highlighted in the Cabinet Report.

All residents, businesses and local organisations in the Inner and Outer Rings will be contacted, and asked whether they would like to have their street considered for Residents Parking. The results of this exercise will be used to establish where the initial “Early Adopter” Residents’ Parking Zones will be promoted.

Subject to general support within these initial zones, it is anticipated that detailed design and full implementation will start in the latter part of 2008 in the hope of having the first few schemes completed and operational by late Spring 2009. When these schemes are complete, the experience gained will be used to inform and facilitate the promotion of additional schemes, subject of course to the support of residents.

If and when the Inner Ring becomes fully established we will turn our attention to the Outer Ring. Subject to the continuing support of residents we currently hope to have both the Inner and Outer Rings fully established by the end of 2012.

We trust that this information is of assistance to you, and look forward to any additional comments that you would like to make.

Terry Bullock
Traffic Manager

Kingsdown morning commuter stand-off

Originally uploaded by Kingsdown.

This was taken a few years ago now, but here it is just as a reminder of what we still have to put up with, and to encourage you to click through to see some of the other 600 pictures on our ‘flickr’ website

It’s not often we can say that, but credit where it’s due – new and much clearer roadsigns have appeared on Marlborough Hill. Cul-de-sac signs at the top, and No Entry/Left-turn only half-way down, and better marking on the road surface itself, should put an end to lawbreaking rat-runners driving down the hill on the offchance and then not quite noticing the old No Entry signs.

Thanks to the traffic engineers for responding to the concerns expressed by residents.

Dr Mark Wright, one of our ward Councillors, tells us that Council officers are currently reviewing residents’ parking schemes in other towns and cities so that they can make recommendations on what form a Bristol scheme needs to take.

They will also be looking at how to prioritise areas of the city for the implementation of residents’ parking, and there will then be city-wide consultation followed by implementation.

So, the issue hasn’t been forgotten, but doesn’t sound as if it’ll be sorted any time soon.