A report on the results of the recent public consultation on preliminary designs for the Cribbs Patchway MetroBus Extension (CPME) is recommending that the scheme be progressed largely unaltered, despite scores of people registering objections to the proposed widening of Hatchet Road in Stoke Gifford, in order to accommodate a new bus lane.
The proposals require a strip of land to be taken from Meade Park (resulting in the loss of some trees) and the removal of hedgerows on both sides of Hatchet Road south of Meade Park.
Councillors on South Gloucestershire Council’s Planning, Transportation and Strategic Environment (PTSE) Committee will be making a decision on the next steps for the project at their meeting on Wednesday 4th May.
The CPME is an extension of the MetroBus network which will extend the North Fringe to Hengrove MetroBus route that is currently under construction. The CPME will provide a fast and direct link between Bristol Parkway station and The Mall bus station via the Cribbs Patchway New Neighbourhood. It will also link to the other MetroBus routes which are currently being built, including the South Bristol link and Ashton Vale to Temple Meads.
One of the elements of the scheme is the proposed replacement of the railway bridge over Gipsy Patch Lane. The proposed new bridge would be wider and include a lane for general traffic, a shared use path and a bus lane in both directions.
Councillors will be asked at the committee meeting to approve the start of the necessary procedures to allow the project to progress, including detailed design work and the use of compulsory purchase powers, if necessary, to acquire land needed in some places to build the CPME.
Public consultation on the CPME proposals ran from November 2015 to January 2016 and included information on the proposed bus priority measures for Hatchet Road, Gipsy Patch Lane, North Way and the San Andreas roundabout near Cribbs Causeway. The council has analysed the 140 responses received during the consultation and a report, which includes responses to the key issues raised, has now been published online at www.southglos.gov.uk/CPMEconsult
In progressing the CPME to its next detailed design phase, the council says it will “fully explore opportunities to reduce the impacts of the scheme in relation to the issues and concerns raised by individuals during the consultation”.
An alternative suggestion to run the CPME via Hunts Ground Road, Great Stoke Way and Winterbourne Road instead of Hatchet Road was put forward in consultation responses. However, the council claims that this suggestion could add almost ten minutes to journey times and could cost an additional £5 million to £11 million, depending on the extent of the required road widening.
As a result, the committee report proposes the original scheme which is to run between Bristol Parkway Station and The Mall bus station, via Hatchet Road, Gipsy Patch Lane, through the former Rolls Royce East Works site, along North Way, and through the Cribbs Patchway New Neighbourhood.
The committee meeting takes place on Wednesday 4th May at Hayfields (Cleve Rugby Club), Cossham Street, Mangotsfield, Bristol, Bristol BS16 9EN.
Image: Indicative artist’s impression of proposals on Hatchet Road (looking north).
Related link: Agenda for the meeting on 4th May
£2M to save 30 seconds on a bus journey along Hatchet Road? It’s all there in the report. You couldn’t make it up. Option 3 (putting in lay-by bus stops north and southbound, but no bus lane) has the same effect southbound and actually IMPROVES the northbound journey, all for a mere(!) £0.75M. Maybe SG Council should keep a few more libraries open and spend a lot less less on this scheme.
Shame the meeting is at 3pm, or maybe that was planned to minimise the number objectors turning up.
Can’t wait for this to start hurry up its long overdue
Both these, Hatchet Road (Lane) and Gypsy Patch Lane, changing the face of our
neighbourhood for the worse, forever. The powers that be who agreed this need their heads examined, when there are better, more appropriate routes available.
Decision on Cribbs Patchway MetroBus Extension DEFERRED by South Gloucestershire Council pending investigation of funding issues should option other than #1 be chosen (option #1 being the officer recommendation that includes a bus lane down Hatchet Road).
The next scheduled meeting of the PTSE Committee is on 29th June 2016.
Discussion on the SGJ Facebook page: http://bit.ly/1UzC58d
Please make your views known at the Parish AGM which will be held at LS Social Club on the 10th May starting at 1900.
So the majority of residents don’t want it but south glos council says F you we are doing it, just remember who they are when it comes around to local elections next time.