Opposition Labour politicians have accused Bristol City Council of ‘bully-boy’ tactics in the way the council installed six remaining parts of the controversial East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood early on Thursday morning.
Council chiefs sent contractors ETM, backed by private security and supported by a large police presence to Barton Hill at 3am on Thursday to install planters and ‘modal filters’ to the ends of four streets and a bus gate on the junction of Avonvale Road and Marsh Lane.
Previous attempts to install the infrastructure for the traffic management trial had been met with direct action protests from local residents, and the council said the delays that had caused since November had cost the council more than £50,000.
Some local residents in Barton Hill did get out to try to stop the action at around 4.30am on Thursday morning, but they were moved on by police. One police officer was filmed telling a local resident that she was not allowed to obstruct the highway when the highway was already closed by the council’s contractors for the work to go ahead.
Fabian Breckels, the Labour councillor for St George Troopers Hill ward, said the way the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood had been introduced has been mishandled. “The roll out of the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood by the Green-led administration has created a feeling that some residents are being ignored by local Green Party councillors,” he said.
“I have been approached by many people from across the affected area for help as they feel I’m the only local councillor willing to listen. This is a controversial scheme that divides opinion. It has been made more contentious because of the way its introduction has been mishandled. Any implementation needs to be managed appropriately, respectfully, and in consultation with local residents.
“The Green-led council ordering contractors to carry out works at 3am, backed up by security, police officers and drones, is blatantly an awful way to manage this. It’s bully-boy tactics that should not happen in a democracy. Trying to get the scheme imposed by the back door in a heavy-handed manner will damage trust between local residents and the council. I was genuinely shocked at how this was handled.
“The Greens said they’d “do things differently” – they certainly are, and not for the better. There are clear lessons to be learned here about working with the local community, not against them, when it comes to instigating local change,” he added.
The East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood was first proposed and the process for consultation and starting a trial was begun under the previous Labour-run council administration back in 2023 and 2024. Labour lost control of the council with the end of the Mayoral system in May 2024, and the Green Party is now the biggest party in a coalition committee system with the Liberal Democrats. The Green-led administration has been implementing Labour’s East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood plans since the autumn of last year.
Labour’s candidate in the West of England Metro Mayor election on May 1 is Helen Godwin, a former council cabinet member under Marvin Rees ’ mayor administration. She visited Cafe Conscious on Avonvale Road, which has become a community hub at the heart of the Liveable Neighbourhood controversy, after Thursday morning’s events.
“After spending the afternoon with concerned community members, it has become clear that residents feel their voices have been ignored throughout this process,” she said. “Contrary to assumptions, these are not individuals resistant to environmental initiatives, but rather families who rely on their vehicles for essential daily activities like work and school transportation.
“Multiple parents expressed genuine worry that their children would face detentions at school due to unreliable public transport alternatives. This underscores our consistent position that adequate public transportation infrastructure must be established before imposing restrictions on current travel methods,” she added.
“The Barton Hill neighborhood has expressed support for traffic calming measures but strongly opposes what many perceive as restrictions that isolate their community and create safety concerns.
“We call upon Bristol City Council to engage in meaningful dialogue with residents and reconsider the implementation approach to ensure it serves rather than divides the community,” she added.
In a statement on Thursday afternoon, the councillor in charge of the committee implementing the Liveable Neighourhood trial, Cllr Ed Plowden (Green, Windmill Hill) said: “Contractors attended six sites in East Bristol this morning to install the infrastructure required for the Liveable Neighbourhood trial. Officers from Avon and Somerset Police were on site to support the installation of the measures and facilitate any peaceful protest encountered. Five of the six modal filter sites have now been completed. The bus gates on Avonvale Road and Pilemarsh that have been installed are not currently live.
“We will give notice of when they are going to be in use and the large electronic signs will indicate whether they are operational. When the bus gates do go live there will be a period of ‘soft’ enforcement, when drivers will receive a letter in the post the first time they are detected contravening one of the bus gates, rather than receiving a fine. We recently announced a range of travel offers and bus gate exemptions to give extra support to households within the trial area. Further updates on the progress of beginning the trial will be shared with residents in due course,” he added.
Since the project’s conception back in 2023, through to the start of work last autumn, and the controversies, campaigns and protests in the five months since, no media in Bristol has reported more on the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood controversy. Here is a timeline of what’s happened since work first began in October:
- October 22: Work to start installing traffic restrictions for controversial liveable neighbourhood scheme
- November 20: Meet the residents who are celebrating the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood trial
- November 24: Protests continue against restrictions to motorists in East Bristol
- December 10: Thousands demand pause to controversial liveable neighbourhood in east Bristol
- December 11: Thousands sign petition as ‘entitled motorists’ protest against liveable neighbourhood scheme
- December 15: Fury as Bristol residents complain of ‘gridlock’ due to £6m ‘liveable neighbourhood’ trial
- January 10: Installation of Bristol liveable neighbourhood paused after protesters block contractors
- January 16: Frustration among both supporters and opponents of liveable neighbourhood as trial stalls
- January 27: Police called as residents block work to install liveable neighbourhood
- January 28: Council admits it is ‘impossible’ to carry on with Liveable Neighbourhood trial after protests stopped it
- January 31: Motorists driving on graves to avoid Liveable Neighbourhood congestion
- March 3: People in Liveable Neighbourhood trial area can claim up to £250 travel compensation
- March 5: Opposition to controversial East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood ‘will filter away’ say council bosses
- March 7: Council showing ‘utter disregard’ for Liveable Neighbourhood objectors
- March 13: Huge overnight operation completes Liveable Neighbourhood installation… almost