Work on improving the controversial pedestrianised section of Princess Victoria Street in Clifton Village is expected to start next next month despite a large increase in the cost.
The work, which is expected to take five months to complete, includes providing more benches, cycle stands and the planting of trees. It will result in a level road surface.
While the project is carried out there will not be any access on Princess Victoria Street between Regent Street and Waterloo Street. Bristol City Council says that deliveries to shops, pubs and cafes along the pedestrianised area “will need to be done from Princess Victoria Street up to its junction with The Mall or from Regent Street”.
The council says that access to the various businesses will be maintained while the construction work goes on.
The combined cost of the work for the Clifton scheme and one at Overton Road off Gloucester Road has risen by £500,000. Council officials said they were “very concerned” that recent inflation had put the cost for upgrade works beyond expectations.
Councillor Ed Plowden, chair of the council’s Transport and Connectivity Committee said: “The council is working alongside the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority (Weca) to finalise the appropriate funding for the scheme. If funding arrangements are successful, construction should begin in late January to early February as agreed with businesses to coincide with the quieter months of the year.”
Weca originally allocated £550,000 to make the Clifton traffic-free permanent as well as £204,000 to pedestrianise Overton Road in Bishopston.
The decision to increase the budget, rather than reducing the scale of the projects or dropping either of them altogether, was made by a Bristol City Council officer
A notice on the council’s website said the amount had gone up since July “because tenders have returned and are considerably more than we had estimated”.
It said: “This means we need to overwrite the previous decision and add a value of £499,524 to the initial decision via an officer executive decision.”
The Clifton pedestrianisation scheme was introduced as a trial in 2021. It was an attempt to reduce congestion and encourage people to walk or cycle. The scheme has split opinion amongst traders and residents.
One trader, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “We are losing trade because customers who drive can’t park outside the shop, collect their goods and drive off. I know that some elderly people who have difficulty walking far now shop in Henleaze.”
Another shopkeeper said: “We don’t get as many customers as we did before this scheme started. I’ve protested to the council but they don’t listen to us. I don’t even get replies to my letters to them. I’ve given up protesting. It’s a waste of time”.
Meanwhile, Clifton and Hotwells Improvement Society (CHIS) has been talking to delivery companies and waste collection firms as to how they are affected by the changes in the one-way traffic system which was introduced three years ago.
Since then, traffic has been banned from entering Princess Victoria Street from Regent Street. It can use this stretch of the road only by travelling in the opposite direction at certain times of the day.
“We have also been talking to a number of residents living in Princess Victoria Street, West Mall and Caledonia Place. “Whilst casting no opinion of CHIS we are purely wishing to gain theirs regarding the reversal of the one-way system, ” said a spokesperson for CHIS.
“Drivers now gain access into Clifton Village via Sion Hill and then turning into Princess Victoria Street opposite the Avon Gorge Hotel. This often proves a laborious task when joining the queue for the Clifton Suspension Bridge at peak times or the pinch point outside the Dragon Workshop.
“Their other option is to park at the other end of Princess Victoria Street , sometimes blocking the view of the zebra crossing, dragging a pallet of goods down to the shops,” said the spokesperson.
CHIS is now seeking the views of its members “to enable us to gauge a wider perception of local opinion in order to judge if the this is a proposal that merits further consideration”.