A new congestion-busting transport link road has been included as part of a flagship rapid transit scheme, delighting local campaigners.
Approved by South Gloucestershire Council’s Cabinet on Monday (25th July), the North Fringe to Hengrove Package rapid transit scheme includes the ‘Stoke Gifford Transport Link’ – also known locally as the Stoke Gifford bypass.
The bypass had been due to open over ten years ago in order to deal with the huge congestion in the North Fringe of Bristol created by the development of 8,000 homes at Bradley Stoke and other nearby developments. It was cancelled when South Gloucestershire Council was run by the Liberal Democrats. A long campaign has been fought by local Conservatives to revive plans for the new road.
Speaking at Monday’s Cabinet meeting, Stoke Gifford Conservative councillor Keith Cranney said:
“I welcome the North Fringe to Hengrove Package rapid transit scheme and feel that the Stoke Gifford Transport Link is the most important element of it.”
Many local people will remember that this link was planned as part of the development that saw nearly 10,000 new homes built at Bradley Stoke and other nearby locations in order to ensure that there was new infrastructure put in place to cope with all these extra commuters.
But – in a moment of madness – the link road was cancelled, thus ensuring that this huge volume of extra traffic has had to negotiate the tiny and dangerous route under Parkway railway bridge.
This has brought misery not just to Stoke Gifford residents but everyone who has to sit in the jams and it has put a risk the large number of pedestrians, particularly Abbeywood school children, who walk under the bridge to get to school.
All these years later, I’m delighted to see that this transport link is back on the agenda because another route across the railway at this location is the only way to ensure that a rapid transit really is rapid.”
Cllr Cranney added:
“This element of the North Fringe to Hengrove Package is desperately needed to cope with the development we have already seen in the area, let alone the additional development as set out in the Council’s Core Strategy.”
“It should never have been cancelled by the LibDems but we look forward to it being delivered as part of rapid transit.”
Related link: Map of the proposed bypass route (Bradley Stoke Journal)
Source: Conservative Group on South Gloucestershire Council
