Council faces questions about bus gate police response
The Police and Crime Commissioner for Avon and Somerset has said she will look into the heavy police presence at a protest against the installation of a bus gate.Avon and Somerset Police confirmed that 28 officers attended in the early hours of Thursday 13 March as protestors gathered while the work was being carried out overnight.They held back a small group of demonstrators who are against the East Bristol Low-Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) trial scheme.Contractors were able to finish the work to install signage on the corner of Avonvale Road and Marsh Lane in Barton Hill.
Campaigners against the trial, which began last November, have accused the council of being underhand by doing the installation in the dark. Deniece Dixon, from Cafe Conscious on Avonvale Road, said she was concerned her business would suffer if the closure of the road to most private vehicles becomes permanent.She said people needed more information about the plan."They [the council] offered to put flower and seating outside," she said."[There was] nothing about a bus gate, nothing about road closures. Not a single time did they say that."
The council said there had been extensive consultation and leafleting of addresses in the area covered by the East Bristol LTN, which is meant to prevent rat runs and make residential areas safer, getting more people to walk, cycle or take the bus. A meeting of the West of England Combined Authority took place on Friday during which the authority provided Bristol City Council with the funding for the LTN.At the meeting, Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner Clare Moody said: "I obviously have a scrutiny role around policing so I just want to acknowledge that it's something I'm aware of [the number of police involved], it's something I'm investigating and it's something I'll be following up."Meanwhile, Green leader of the council Tony Dyer said: "I think it is very clear there are some very strong feelings about this process and therefore know we do take those seriously."
Not all residents are unhappy with the scheme, however. Pietro, who lives in the area, believes there are simply too many cars."Look at all the traffic coming down Church Road or Blackswarth Road," he said."It's one person [per car], one person, one person. It doesn't have to be that way."When these schemes go in, smaller journeys or journeys that are not needed, they go. People do find alternative modes of transport."
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