ETRO Report Published

The report (read here) recently released from B&NES Council regarding the ETRO for the closure of Winifred’s Lane confirms overwhelming objections from local residents to the road’s closure.

This is no surprise to local residents who have being telling the council members responsible for making a final decision on the closure, for a year, that this is the view of the vast majority of people who live locally, and who know their area best. We can only hope that local residents and voters are listened to now.

Some of the key points emerging from the Council’s report are:

·  Of the 1289 responses to the consultation on the Winfred’s Lane ETRO carried out during the trial period 84% objected to the scheme.

·  454 of the responses were from residents within the trial area, and of these 72% objected to the scheme. Local residents within the trial area are very strongly opposed to the scheme.

·  The report’s Traffic Monitoring Analysis shows a dramatic increase in traffic flow on Sion Road during the trial period compared to the pre-trial baseline. In November 2024 the increase was 87%, in February 2025 the increase was 115%, and in March 2025 the increase was 94%. The shows that there was a significant increase in traffic on Sion Road along the dangerous blind bends past Sion Hill Place. The report also showed increases in traffic flow along Morford Street of between 170 to 730 vehicles per day.

·  It should be noted that the figures above for Sion Road are for 2-way traffic. Using the Report’s own data the increase in northbound traffic during the trial period on Sion Road reached 883%.

·  The report’s Data Quality analysis shows increase in NO2 levels during the trial on Sion Hill (west), Morford Street and Julian Road.

·  The report identifies many cases of cycling down Winifred’s Lane against the one-way direction risking the safety of cyclists and other road users, especially walkers.

·  The report makes no mention of accidents and collision ‘near misses’ because of the Winifred’s Lane ETRO despite local residents making many reports of these issues.

Regarding the dramatic increase in traffic along Sion Hill and Sion Road, we note the earlier statement from Councillor Mark Elliott (Lansdown). On January 31st 2024 at a meeting with concerned residents at St Stephen’s Church (accompanied by Councillor Hodge), when it was suggested the modal filters would result in a significant increase in traffic on Sion Hill and Sion Road Councillor Elliott said that was not the intention and would be a clear fail.

 The Winifred’s Lane ETRO trial is a failure when the Council’s own data is used again the success criteria of reducing traffic in residential areas and creating safer routes for walking and cycling.

The closure of Winifred’s Lane has been an unnecessary imposition, making living in the area more difficult, and increasing the risk of danger and injury to local residents, including schoolchildren. The data confirms large increases in traffic, up to many thousands of extra traffic movements per year, outside both St Andrew’s Primary School and Kingswood Preparatory School, and very significant traffic rises onto residential roads such as Sion Road and Morford Street.

The Council has stated that a decision on whether or not to make the Winifred’s Lane ETRO permanent will be taken in the New Year. In the meantime the HoLCG will be preparing actions in the event that the decision is to make the ETRO permanent.