News
19th July 2023:
Discussion paper on traffic in the Village Centre
The Group has produced a paper responding to the impact on the Village of future traffic growth on the A4018 from major housing expansion in South Glos. This could harm the character, vitality and amenities of the Village, and we want to be ready for when the Council comes back again to consider proposals.
Starting from a set of Objectives, we developed three Strategies:
S1 - to reduce rat-running from the north, via Passage Road and Henbury Road.
S2 - to reduce rat-running from the east, via Chock Lane and its distributary roads.
S3 - to consolidate north-east east-west through traffic onto the Eastfield Road - Westbury Hill - Canford Lane artery.
We then developed possible Actions in line with the Strategies. We drew up a long-list of Actions, both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’, and then from this list we selected a short-list of Actions.
Comments are welcome !
- read the discussion paper
- take up our offer to talk to your Village group
- email your comments to westburytransportplacegroup@gmail.com
- propose your own package of Actions !
Click here for the Discussion paper.
6th May 2022:
Falcondale Road/ Henbury Road Junction engagement
The group has responded to the Council's consultation about road changes at the Falcondale Road/ Henbury Road junction. The road changes are prompted by the need to upgrade the traffic signals, but the opportunity is being taken to introduce other changes, including improvements for pedestrians at the junction, changes to traffic flows at the junction, and a bus lane between Greystoke Avenue and this junction.
We are generally supportive of the proposals, but we would have welcomed more explanation of the reasoning behind the proposals.
Whilst the proposal itself is small, it may affect traffic flows into the Village. We asked the Council for assurance that the proposals complement the work of the A4018 scheme, and in particular the impact on traffic flows in the Village.
One of the proposals is to remove a safety island on one of the crossings of Falcondale Road. We think both crossings at the junction should have safety islands.
Click here for the group's full response: response.
26th October 2021:
The results of our village survey are out !
The survey of users of the village closed at the end of September, and the results have been written up in a report. 288 people responded, 278 online and 10 on paper. The result is a rich set of responses.
The report contains both numerical analysis and examples of individual comments. Here are some headlines:
Top issues
The top issue was the range of shops. Sample comments: “No butcher, deli, shoes, clothes, electrical, toys” and “No decent chemist”.
The second-top issue was the volume and speed of motor traffic – “Constant traffic colours everything around the village” and “The traffic needs to be slowed down. 20 signs just aren’t enough.”
Next were:
car parking – “Practically all car parking spaces in the village are full during the day” and “Free carparking is great, but it needs to be time-limited”.
road safety for pedestrians – “Lack of safe crossings other than at the war memorial” and “Passage Road is an absolute nightmare”.
the quality of the street environment. “It is 'ok' but there is nothing about the environment (other than the lovely flowers) that draws you in or makes you want to stay rather than pass through”. “Narrow pavements.”
Other headlines
86% of respondents get to the village on foot, 50% by car (you could tick more than one box)
The street environment was rated higher in Canford Lane than in Westbury Hill and High Street – “Canford Lane footpath/sidewalk has a “café feel” about it as well as the pedestrian precinct. The High Street and Westbury Hill have a “rushed feel” about the environment”.
There were many detailed comments and suggestions for each of Canford Lane, Westbury Hill and High Street. For instance: “Carlton Court feels very sterile”; on Westbury Hill “traffic dominates the road due to there being a car park, and traffic going up/coming down from Henleaze.”; “thought needs to be given to the future of the old post office building.”
Comments on other places: “Stoke Lane needs a pedestrian crossing.” “Stop rat-running through Chock Lane”.
Click here for the full report: survey report
1 September 2021:
Update: village survey and other plans
The group currently has a survey open to collect the community's views. We have received over 200 responses to the survey so far. We intend to keep the survey open for some weeks yet, in order to maximise the number of responses. Do encourage your contacts to complete the survey. After the survey has been closed and we have worked through all the responses, we will publish a report summarising the survey responses.
We are starting work on different aspects, for instance traffic flows, parking, and walkability, observing the current situation and starting to consider possible improvements. We will in due course hold an event to share our work and to start a wider discussion.
We are keen to understand the pattern of parking in the village, including commuter parking, and we plan to do surveys in all the village streets. It is beyond the core group’s capacity to do this in all streets, so we need some help. Please let us know by emailing westburytransportplacegroup@gmail.com if you would be willing to help with this, perhaps in the street where you live. We aim to cover all the streets around the village centre where it is believed that people park their cars in order to go into the village, whether to shop, work, catch the bus or for any other reason.