However, and if you follow the link to the Bristol Traffic site above you can see- is that a lot of the parking on pavements, double yellow lines and keep clear zones in kingsdown is actually done by locals. You can see this by photographing the cars and then coming back a week later, or at weekends. The cars are still there. These are not commuters, they are yourselves.

What would make a difference today would be something resembling enforcement of parking rules. If commuters and residents knew there was a 50% chance of being ticketed for parking illegally on any day they did it, they wouldn’t. This could actually increase pressure from residents for a CPZ; suddenly all the ‘resident only’ parking slots would be gone.

Laing O’Rourke (the contractors building the Heart Institute) responded very quickly this morning when we mentioned the problem to them, and they have again reminded their regular suppliers, and courier firms, that deliveries to the site are meant to go via the Horfield Rd site.

I do agree with the lorry restriction though.

Our source is Hannah Smith, Planning Officer who co-ordinated the review of the Conservation Area Character Appraisal. We checked the current status of the extra triangle directly with her, and she confirmed that it is now included in the Conservation Area, following the consultation on the Draft Appraisal.

I have copied this to her, to give you her email address, and if you find out that we have been misinformed pleae let me know and I will, of course, change the item.

With regard to the second statement that we consider wrong, my impression is that both you, and UBHT as your clients, genuinely believe that you have ‘done the right thing’ just by showing us the draft plans, though you will also be aware that simply ignoring our concerns and saying they are best dealt with through the planning system, is hardly ‘involvement’ in the normal sense of the word. However, this approach falls far short of what Bristol, in line with many other councils, is now expecting from developers, but we are still optimistic that, with proper involvement, we can save everyone’s time (and some money) by helping to develop schemes that we can then simply support.

(The Basque area was keenly fought over: Bilbao had declared for the left wing Republicans at the start of the war and its capture in 1937 was an important victory for the right wing Nationalists. In April 1937, the nearby ancient city of the Basques – Guernica – was bombed and destroyed in the first ever deliberate aerial bombing of a city.)