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West of England Partnership report “Our Future Transport”

October 2008: The four local sub regional authorities have submitted a document - Our Future Transport to the Department for Transport. The document represents the first stage of a process that sees the four West of England Partnership authorities - Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire - uniting to express continued interest in developing a bid for a slice of the Government's £1.4bn Transport Innovation Fund early in 2008. This includes plans to re-open the Portishead line.

See W of E Partnership web page on this report.

Download report (PDF 1.2Mb)

Greater Bristol Strategic Transport Study

This is a major study into the future transport needs for the Greater Bristol area covering the 25 years up to 2031. The Government Office for the South West (GOSW), (see Local Government page) commissioned the consultants Atkins to do the study. The public’s views on this were invited. The study is now complete, and the emphasis is much more on buses and roads than railways. The Portishead branch hardly features at all! One recommendation is for a bridge over the river Avon (est. £110m), which could include a rail link. This would be a very long term plan, and we do not think it makes any sense. (see press articles) A much cheaper and quicker solution would be to reopen the existing line to Bristol. The final recommendations have now been passed to the GOSW, the DfT, and Local councils. The report is now available on-line on the GOSW web site. Click here to see report.

Joint Local Transport Plan

This is a 5 year plan for 2006-2011, and looks at all transport issues. The 4 local councils - Bristol City Council, North Somerset, Bath & N E Somerset, and South Gloucestershire produced the plan. It is somewhat more positive about the railway, but in the longer term. In the Rail Action Plan (page 95), under Long Term it lists under “Schemes for development during 2006 to 2011 with implementation after 2011: Re-introduction of a Bristol to Portishead passenger service to address congestion arising from construction of 4000 new homes in Portishead ....”. However, the emphasis is on buses including a so-called showcase route to Portishead, though there is clearly little scope for bus lanes on the narrow A369 on most of its length. There was public consultation during 2005. See the JLTP web site www.greaterbristoltransportplan.org for details or read copy in local library. The Plan was approved by the four councils in March 2006, and has been submitted to Government. Click here for a brief summary produced by John Rickard (the whole document is 428 pages!). See also below for councils’ long-term strategy.

Overall Planning Strategy

The West of England Partnership which is a partnership of the 4 local councils is developing a ‘20-year vision for the sub-region’ covering housing, planning, transport etc. They have produced an explanatory pamphlet called ‘Your area: your vision’ which is available from local libraries. However, this body is subservient to the South West Regional Assembly (see Local Government) and is unhappy about the number of houses proposed. Ultimately, the Government Office for the South West appears to dictate overall policy on behalf of the Government.

 See also www.westofengland.org