The future of the Bristol Railway Path

[Stevek76]

The north west is tory, but not further to the east, think southmead etc.

Decided to map this up, must admit didn't quite expect this though:

2016 first round votes only, shade is proportion of votes in each ward, Rees (labour) is red, Ferguson (for non bristolians this was the fairly 'anti car' independant who won in 2012) is green and Lucas (tory) is blue.

The final grey is the proportion of the total ward vote that was from city wide postal votes. Annoyingly all postal votes are collated and then dumped on wards in a fairly random fashion, in some of the smaller wards they can account for up to 30% of the total ward vote so this is a measure of the potential 'distortion' in each ward.

Does actually suggest a larger concentration of labour vote in the northern parts than in the south. Looking at the figures a bit more it seems the UKIP candidate soaked up some of the south bristol votes, remember this was pre referendum and therefore pre UKIP collapse.

[Bmblbzzz]

There are also Green city councillors from Southville, Easton and St Paul's/St Werburgh's*. It seems there's an inconsistency between voting at parliamentary, council, city mayor and probably also metro-mayor levels; which is in itself quite consistent with national trends! (ie it's usual for people to vote differently at different 'levels' of government.)

*South, East and central (West constituency) Bristol, for any others tuning in.

[brooksby]

Recreational paths are not considered important enough, or revenue-able enough.

The BBRP is a main commuter artery as well, isn't it?

Another bit of local government so short-sighted it looks at a popular cycleway and think "we can put some engines along there"

Yes, it is also a commuter route, but many people think it's not a real commuter route. After all, we're talking about cyclists, not *proper* commuters... To a lot of people (and especially the Bristol Post), if it's being used by cyclists then it's only ever a recreational route...

[Cyril Haearn]

Recreational paths are not considered important enough, or revenue-able enough.

The BBRP is a main commuter artery as well, isn't it?

Another bit of local government so short-sighted it looks at a popular cycleway and think "we can put some engines along there"

Yes, it is also a commuter route, but many people think it's not a real commuter route. After all, we're talking about cyclists, not *proper* commuters... To a lot of people (and especially the Bristol Post), if it's being used by cyclists then it's only ever a recreational route...

Both are right, cycling to work is commuting AND recreation

[mark1964]

It seems to me that they are looking at the 'path of least resistance' in fear of annoying motoring lobby groups. it's easier to take space from pedestrians & cyclists isn't it?. Thousands use this route every week, myself included. In fact, it's one of the reasons why I bought a house near it.
As an engineer, they've got massive problems with this one since in the decades since the railway closed, businesses and home shave been built right up to the fence. For instance, at a place called Clay Bottom (no, seriously!), the route does a tight S-bend, due to homes being built in the 1980's. It gets close to a road here too, so which is to go in straightening the route fro a tram?. Yep, lose the houses since we aren't in the business of taking roadspace away from cars, are we? (actually, Bristol did do this in 1992 when it shut Redcliffe way and restored a Georgian square). In addition, there are massive problems with slope stabilisation, bridges etc. And where is it going to go?. The current path spits you out on an industrial estate!.

Hopefully it'll get bogged down and wither on the vine. Please go and sign this petition mentioned above against a relief road that would better serve as a cycling & walking route.

https://brislingtonrailwaypath.weebly.com