Closing road through Downs will ‘lose council income’ from future parking charges plan

Closing a road through the Downs for a few weekends could “lose the council income” from future parking charges. A trial closure could be rolled out later this year, but councillors raised concerns that this would mean less money made from charging people to park on Ladies Mile.

Drivers don’t have to pay to park on Ladies Mile at the moment, but there are plans to install parking machines there in the future. Another concern raised about the planned trial is that some people living north of the Downs would need to drive further to get to Clifton.

The trial closure was suggested by the Downs Advisory Panel, and was considered by the Downs committee on Monday, November 13. A couple of councillors spoke out against the plan, but the committee voted to press ahead with the trial, although the details still remain unclear.

Labour Councillor Kye Dudd said: “In theory, it’s a good idea, returning the road to recreational uses or nature. But there are a few factors that need to be considered and that probably in the long run prevent it from happening.

“We’ve got proposals now for parking charges on the Downs, so there’s the loss of income potentially to the council, that doesn’t exist at the moment but will potentially exist in a year’s time. Given the council’s financial position, that loss of future potential income will probably be in play, rather than closing off the road.”

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Another issue is that people living in Stoke Bishop would have to drive further to get to the shops in Clifton. Many residents drive down Ladies Mile to get there, and they would have to drive a more circuitous route otherwise instead of straight through the park.

Liberal Democrat Cllr Caroline Gooch said: “Stoke Bishop doesn’t have much in the way of facilities. If they want to go to Clifton, the way to get there is to go down Stoke Road and along Ladies Mile. It’s an awfully long way round, and would transfer all the traffic onto Blackboy Hill.”

The Downs committee doesn’t have the power to close Ladies Mile, but can make suggestions. The decision was referred to the events sub-group, who will themselves then have to refer the matter to the transport policy committee to take the final decision on closing the road. Despite the opposition, the majority of the Downs committee voted in favour of the trial closure.

Green Cllr David Wilcox said: “As a current member of the transport committee, I would welcome the closure of Ladies Mile. It would only be closed for one or two days on the weekend, and it would still be open five days a week. I think we need to think bigger about the trial, because statistically, closing it for one weekend isn’t going to prove very much.

“We need to do it for more weekends, to get some proper data about what the impact of closing this road is. I don’t agree that it’s a massive detour to get to Clifton. There’s a couple of traffic lights that might slow you down, but it’s not a massive way — considering some of the things we’re doing in east Bristol and south Bristol with liveable neighbourhoods. It’s not a big deal.”