. Another round-up of local news from your hardworking Lib Dem team
Greenway hangs in the balance: We have found it necessary to write to Bristol City Council Planning Department to complain about the lack of progress on the Greenway proposals for the former Brislington Railway Line and the poor treatment the applicant has received. The application to construct a temporary active travel corridor was submitted at the start of the year but it appears Labour-run Bristol City Council is determined to block it. Here’s our letter: “We are writing to express our concerns and frustrations with the planning process for an application in our ward of Brislington West, namely 21/00894/F Description of Tramway Project for path for pedestrians and cyclists along the old railway linking Tesco to the Council Depot and the riverside paths. This application was submitted at the start of the year and gained a huge amount of public support. You may recall that it came before the DCCA Agenda Conference in July, when we were informed that officers were recommending refusal. You asked for a deferral in order for issues to be resolved. We have since heard from the applicant, who has told us he is ready to walk away from the scheme due to his frustrations with the process. He feels he is being blocked and told us, “I fear that I just cannot go on trying to satisfy the planners' endless demands on the Tramway Project. It is a minute little piece of work and one wholly for the public benefit but they are frustrating the project at every opportunity.” In an email to the planning officer assigned to this application, which we have seen, he said, “It may be helpful for you to know that every other planning authority we work with in England accepts this type and scale of location plan as being appropriate. You are the 24 only exception.
As you have now written a total of 17 emails to me without once offering any positive comment or support, I suggest that it is now time to move on and I am putting the matter of our despicable treatment, and your complete disregard of the desperate imperative of reducing climate change, in the hands of our local Members, who of course wish to see this modest scheme succeed.” The applicant, John Grimshaw CBE, is well-known and deeply respected in the sustainable and active travel community having founded the sustainable transport charity Sustrans in 1984 and being instrumental in establishing the National Cycle Network. Through Sustrans and his company, Greenways and Cycleroutes Ltd, he has been responsible for many successful schemes across the region and beyond. A quick glance at his website and you can see the success he has had such as the Ashton Court Greenway, the Brean Down Way, the Strawberry Line Extension, the Wye valley Greenway and many more. Mr. Grimshaw is clearly experienced at designing active travel corridors, submitting planning applications, working constructively with planning officers and getting approval. Therefore, we are exasperated and quite frankly embarrassed that he is encountering so much resistance for the scheme in Brislington West.
