Agenda item

Up to 30 minutes is allowed for this item

Any member of the public or Councillor may participate in Public Forum.  The detailed arrangements for so doing are set out in the Public Information Sheet at the back of this agenda.  Public Forum items should be emailed to scrutiny@bristol.gov.uk and please note that the following deadlines will apply in relation to this meeting:-

Questions - Written questions must be received 3 clear working days prior to the meeting.  For this meeting, this means that your question(s) must be received in this office at the latest by 5 pm on Tuesday 22^nd March.

Petitions and Statements - Petitions and statements must be received on the working day prior to the meeting.  For this meeting this means that your submission must be received in this office at the latest by 12.00 noon on Friday 25^th March.

The following Public Forum questions and statements were received, and detail can be found here.

Public Forum Questions:

Public Forum Statements:

Suzanne Audrey was in attendance on behalf of TRESA and expressed that they were not satisfied with the response provided. As active travel was encouraged, a route for pedestrians and cyclists needed to be improved. Suzanne asked the following supplementary question: As proposals were not currently being developed to improve active travel routes from Three Lamps junction over Bath Road bridge to Temple Meads, when would the council be looking at possible options?

The Head of City Transport advised that given the constrains on the route, a new structure would be required which would come at a significant cost to the council and also, it was important to look at the network as a whole, any changes may cause congestion in the surrounding areas. It was noted that the team were working with Temple Island colleagues on development plans and a summary could be provided after the meeting with a written response to Suzanne’s supplementary question.

David Redgewell was in attendance and asked the following supplementary questions:

What work was taking place regionally to address the revenue support for bus services in the city and, when would planning applications for a train station in Henbry be going to Committee.

The Cabinet Member for Transport advised that the question around bus services was for the West of England Combined Authority but the assured that the council was working with the relevant colleagues on infrastructure and looking at segregated routes which would make the services more commercially viable. With regards to Henbry Station, officer advised that the flooding issues in the area would need to be resolved before any planning applications could be submitted but this was in progress.

Rob Bryher was in attendance and asked the following supplementary questions:

Rob asked what elements made a Liveable Neighbourhood from the council’s perspective and how many modal filters could be funded as part of future Liveable Neighbourhood schemes given that small individual measures cost £40k. The Cabinet Member for Transport advised that the council were currently working through to get the website updated to create a clearer picture of Liveable Neighbourhoods and that they didn’t want a top down approach, ideas would need to come from residents.

Rob asked what would be the council’s approach if the Clean Air Zone meets compliance by summer 2024 and what other measures will be considered at that point if compliance had not been met. The Head of City Transport advised that the Clean Air Zone would encourage car users to take a different route or mode of transport and noted that as cars got newer, the level of emissions would get lower. It was noted that creating a new scheme would not be feasible as the council would be compliant in the time it would take to implement but the administration would be able to decide at that point if they would like to look at other measures.

Rob asked how much income had been generated from the penalty charge notices on Bristol Bridge since the route closure to general traffic. The Head of City Transport advised that an exact figure wasn’t available as all revenue generated by fines goes back into the Parking Services budget.