Thank Goodness, said Cllr Katherine Barbour, Green Party, on hearing the news that the Bus Gate is being suspended. She has been calling for this since the end of January when this trial started.
No data was presented about the impact of the first 3 months of the trial but clearly the results are not as good as was hoped by the Labour administration.
They say they are listening to the public; it has taken them a very long time to do this. The last few months has been terrible for the people of Brookvale Road and Belmont Road and other local streets. Katherine asked Cllr Keogh after the meeting if the traffic calming measures on Brookvale Road and on Russell Place will now be removed. He was not able to answer this question as there is clearly no plan in place. He says he will speak to residents about this as a co-design process is put in place.
Traffic around this area continues to be challenging and sadly no strong measures were put in place to ensure the traffic went along Thomas Lewis Way and the Avenue.
This is sad news for pollution in the local area and will take years for people to trust the councillors and officers who were involved in this project. The key challenge is to get people out of their cars using public transport and walking/cycling. This project did not achieve this.
The Green Party will continue to promote alternatives to car transport and shop local campaigns as Portswood shops have been in nose dive since the trial started.
Southampton and District Green Party