NEWS ON RAPID ROUTE
November 14, 2010 9:06 PM
You may not have heard of the North Fringe to Hengrove (Transport) Package, but during December 2009 local residents in South Gloucestershire and Bristol were asked their opinions on the proposals. The scheme has 5 main aims to:
Tackle congestion; Improve road safety; Enhance accessibility; Improve air quality and Improve overall quality of life.
The North Fringe to Hengrove Package is composed of a substantial set of inter-related transport schemes including rapid transit routes to the North Fringe of the Bristol urban area, Hengrove and Emerson's Green, a park and ride site alongside the M32, within the administrative area of the City of Bristol, and the Stoke Gifford Transport Link. If approval is gained this scheme would be funded by a South West Regional Funding allocation of £168.08m.
However, what it didn't include was a link from Aztec West to Cribbs Causeway and a Park & Ride facility at Parkway. The Liberal Democrat group on South Gloucestershire Council thought these 2 factors were crucial to the success of the scheme and campaigned strongly to have them included in the bid.
Now, after a meeting of the West of England Partnership in February 2010 both of these elements have been included in the bid. Cllr Jan Woodley from Patchway and Cllr Jon Williams from Bradley Stoke commented "We are both very pleased that by speaking out for our communities we have achieved a real improvement to these transport proposals. By omitting a link with Cribbs Causeway congestion around Patchway would have worsened and by the same token by not providing a Park & Ride facility at Parkway the local roads would have been clogged up with commuter traffic. We are both very excited about this project and look forward to the funding being agreed."
Unfortunately, since the change in government and the unprecedented budget deficit left by Labour it is still not clear whether the funding will be available to complete this project. However, Liberal Democrats on South Gloucestershire will continue to lobby for it.
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