By Jason Lewis, Local Democracy Reporter

Portswood's controversial bus gate trial, which it's claimed is causing “widespread chaos and misery”, will not be scrapped.

 

City council cabinet member for environment and transport Cllr Eamonn Keogh refused to scrap the project before surviving a motion of no confidence.

The Portswood bus gate and active travel zone (ATZ) scheme took centre stage at a full council meeting on Wednesday, March 27.

A petition calling for the transport project to be scrapped is edging towards 5,000 signatures, and protesters marched through the area on Saturday (March 22) with the same message.

“At this stage we will not be ceasing the bus gate,” Cllr Keogh said.

“The bus gate will continue because it is the trial. We need to recognise that that is the purpose.

“That we have got to assess what the impact is.”

Cllr Keogh said the bus gate issue had “taxed me beyond anything I have ever known before”.

The six-month trial of a bus, taxi and cycling-only restriction in part of Portswood Road at certain hours of the day was launched in January.

The project also includes the ATZ in neighbouring residential streets.

Katherine Holmes, who lives in Brookvale Road, told councillors the first two months of the trial had a “devastating impact on the local community”.

She said high street businesses were reporting reduced footfall and a loss of earnings while thousands of cars were displaced into residential areas, which was causing “widespread chaos and misery”.

“The bus gate trial cannot be considered a success when there are such obvious and serious impacts on the local community,” Ms Holmes said.

She said weekday traffic in the residential area had more than doubled at peak times, with close to 6,000 cars and commercial vehicles travelling through the ATZ a day.

Ms Holmes said crossing the roads on the way to school with a baby in a buggy and a four-year-old was “intimidating” and “terrifying”.

There were no safe places to cross the road and there had been accidents and near misses involving children, she added.

Cllr Keogh said he understood the passion being expressed by residents.

He said: “You’re saying is the traffic acceptable?

“It is not acceptable but having said that I do have to accept when we commissioned the independent road safety audit and they come back with the recommendation that there are no further issues, they are giving an independent view.”

Cllr Keogh said a series of proposed changes to the scheme would be discussed at a steering group meeting, which was due to be held on the evening of March 26.

Bus gate protest

These included modal filters, banning turns, introducing a one-way system and bringing in automatic number plate recognition cameras.

The cabinet member said a lot of motorists were behaving badly in the residential area.

Cllr Peter Baillie, who tabled the motion of no confidence in Cllr Keogh, said: “You are ploughing on no matter what.

“No matter how much you disrupt things you are ploughing on.

“At what point do you not plough on and say actually we need to halt and we need to rethink and we need to start again.”

Cllr Keogh said a decision on the future of the bus gate would be made at the end of the trial.

Conservative group leader Cllr Baillie said the motion was due to the cabinet member’s “inept” handling of the bus gate and roadworks, new and increased parking charges, and agreeing to the potential sell off of some car parks.

“It is no exaggeration to say that Portswood will never be the same again if this bus gate continues,” Cllr Baillie said.

Fellow Conservative councillor Steven Galton said Cllr Keogh came across as “patronising” and the part-time nature of the scheme was “half-hearted”.

Portswood Green Party councillor Katherine Barbour compared the project to “faulty plumbing”.

“You block up Russell Place,” Cllr Barbour said. You block up the broadway.

“You say go along Thomas Lewis Way but you don’t change any signage apart from at Protswood Road where it says other traffic turn left onto Brookvale Road and then you wonder why the all the traffic goes along Brookvale Road.”

The Liberal Democrats said they did not agree with the personalisation of the motion. In their view the whole Labour administration was responsible for the bus gate.

Cllr Richard Blackman, Liberal Democrat group leader, said Labour had form for poor transport schemes in the city.

He added: “We have an active travel zone that actively discourages active travel.”

Cllr Blackman said the project did not look tenable or sustainable and he would scrap it immediately.

“You need to demonstrate that you are listening and really listening,” Cllr Blackman said.

“We have heard the project is in a trial period and that’s where we are at the moment.

“It would be good if Cllr Keogh would state today that if the trial is shown to have failed then the project will be stopped.

“There must be no automatic progression from trial to permanence.”

More than £1million has been spent on Portswood Broadway, the active travel zone and mobility hub.

This was split between £527,437 on infrastructure related to the trial project, £503,279 on permanent measures and £59,266 on the hub.

Portswood ward Labour councillor Marie Finn apologised to Brookvale Road residents but said she believed the situation in that area could be sorted out.

Labour council leader Cllr Lorna Fielker said the cabinet member had been listening and that changes were taking place during the trial period based on feedback from residents.

She said Cllr Keogh had the support of the Labour group, adding: “We are a listening council and we will keep responding.”

Alderman Adrian Vinson, who represented Portswood for more than 20 years and is a former Liberal Democrat council leader, called on the local authority to do the sensible thing and cancel the scheme immediately.

He said: “It is demonstrably failing.”

The motion of no confidence was backed by Conservative and Liberal Democrat councillors but it was voted down by the Labour majority.