Winterbourne Parish Council Report - Traffic

One of the positives of the closure of Frenchay Hospital was to be the reduction in parking all over Frenchay. Having recently returned from 6 months in Lisbon I expected to see a big change in the traffic. Although the surrounding roads are now clear of most hospital based cars, Beckspool Road is just as congested with parked cars through the week. This makes parking for funerals and other church functions very difficult.

Your Parish Councillors attended a meeting of Frenchay Residents Liaison Group and raised this matter. This is a group convened by the NBHT to liaise with residents about the development of the hospital site. It seems that some people who use the park and ride facilities are parking on the road for various reasons. We were told this may soon ease with staff parking closer to the bus stop in the hospital grounds.

When the Parish Council questioned the traffic reduction figures put forward by the hospital it was similarly assured that most traffic was generated by the hospital and would reduce substantially when the hospital closed. This was one of the statistics used by the hospital to claim that the surrounding roads could cope with the proposed development. I notice that in the mornings there seem to be as many cars driving through Frenchay as there were previously. We have always voiced a concern that the new development will generate extra traffic on to already saturated roads at peak times but were assured that the projected figures showed an overall decline taking the hospital traffic out of the equation. We still strongly dispute these statistics.

Your Parish Councillors from The Frenchay Preservation Society predicted that while the traffic would initially drop it would very quickly recover to its previous density but were told we were wrong.

At the same meeting we were given a timeline for the development of the site.

1. At present the site is being surveyed to ascertain what toxic material, including Asbestos, are present.
2. When this is finished these materials will be removed by specialist contractors.
3. After this the site will be cleared. Rubble from the demolition will remain on site to be reused in the development.
4. Then developers will put in planning application for what they wish to build.

So actual building is likely to be some time away. It could be several years before the first buildings go up.

We are delighted to inform residents that NBHT have agreed to use our contractors that currently keep the commons around Frenchay in such good order. We closely surveyed the grounds with the contractor and highlighted areas that need improvement on the ‘Village Green’ land prior to it being scheduled to be handed over to Winterbourne Parish Council to maintain the area for future generations to enjoy.

Carol Thorne Frenchay Ward, Winterbourne Parish Council