Street Services

Anthony Wilks

Consistent with our aim to protect the amenity of the area, we have urged the City Council to preserve some of the magnificent Victorian lighting standards in our area, and to bring them up to date with modern lighting units. Examples of the success of this can be seen in Clyde Park and Redland Road. In other locations, we have lobbied to have traditional lanterns installed to replace the 60’s-style ‘cone’ fittings on the smaller lamp standards. In some cases we have contributed to the cost of this, and the results can be seen on Redland Green. We hope to achieve a similar result in Lovers’ Walk. We carry out a regular survey of street lighting and draw the City Council’s attention to any defects.

We also keep a check on other deficiencies, such as blocked drains that cause problems for pedestrians, cyclists and other road users.

In conjunction with the RCAS Planning Group, we monitor proposals for changes in traffic flow, though we are not always advised in advance of such changes. This was the case in the extensive remodelling of Redland Road last year. We also submit requests for road safety improvements, such as the extension of pavements to reduce accident risk, though we are not always successful!

Other matters that attract our attention are advertising hoardings, bus stop markings, parking on busy junctions etc.

We successfully campaigned for the restoration of the ‘Downs Haven’ (aka ‘Cabmens Shelter’) at the top of Blackboy Hill, and also for the nearby Victorian public toilet to be painted dark green in keeping with it. This now looks much more authentic.

If you have any concerns on street services or any related issues, please contact me, Anthony Wilks, on Bristol 973 7516.

November 2007: "Residents Parking Scheme aims to put residents first". New parking controls operating 24-hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week are proposed by City Council transport experts for an Inner Ring that includes Cotham; Redland is in the Outer Ring. The key points are:

	£40 p.a. permit for the first car, £200 p.a. for the second. A third vehicle (allowed only in exceptional circumstances) will cost £500 p.a.
	Only 50 visitors per household allowed per year, at £1 per ticket, each valid for one day (and night), with exceptions for regular care visits. All permits being car-specific, and thus non-transferable.
	All other parking in Pay-&-Display bays at £1 per hour, maximum stay 4 hours
	Penalties for all infringements will be £60, issued by additional enforcement staff

A Press Release was issued on 13th November which you can read here - it refers to a report that was presented to Cabinet on the subject, the full text of which you can read or download here (210K)

The map showing the areas affected is here (4MB)

The damage to our amenity in the form of our 'street scene' continues - particularly due to abuse of the refuse system. If there are cases of fly-tipping in your street, you can report them to the City Council through a form on their website - click here: Report Fly-Tipping

Members can help by reporting instances of other nuisance to the Council; RCAS has produced a proforma to help you. It is an MS Word document: Right-click here proforma, choose Save Target As..., select a location and save it. You may then open it later, complete it on screen and email it as an attachment to the address on the form. If you do not have access to MS Word, the form is also available as a PDF You cannot complete this on the screen but you can print it, fill it in by hand and post it to the Council.

You can include comments on other problems, e.g. overgrown hedges, and provides a useful record. In our experience the Council does try to respond to complaints but does not routinely inspect our streets. So reporting really is important. Full details of Council contacts elsewhere in the website.