Read our responses to Bristol's major consultations, including the Bristol Harbour Placeshaping Strategy and Bristol City Centre Transport Changes.
15/01/2025
This page contains our responses to consultations which have been conducted since 2022. Our responses include important practical points about the schemes and plans being proposed as well as comments on the long term vision for our city.
If you have any questions about our responses, please contact Tom.
In Autumn 2024, we responded to the Bristol Harbour Placeshaping Strategy. This strategy outlines the future of Bristol Harbour and how it can be an asset for residents, visitors and people enjoying their time in Bristol city centre.
The strategy contains a Vision Document along with eight ‘Place Plans’ for different areas of the harbour.
In our response, we put forward our support for the vision for the harbour and its alignment with our shared BID vision and our themes of work.
We have identified several priorities which would be appropriate for BID funding and support, including signage and wayfinding, historical signage about the harbour, tree planting, green walls, and reinstatement of the Ballast Seed Barge garden.
We have asked for further consideration of adding public toilets to the harbour, focusing on ‘cool spaces’, planning improvements to the East of Castle Park, and clarification on the reliance on parking revenue.
In Summer 2024, we responded to the Bristol City Centre Transport Changes consultation which proposes a new ‘mass transit’ bus route from southwest Bristol to the M32. This proposal outlines changes to Bedminster Bridges Roundabout, Redcliffe Way, Temple Way, Bond Street and Broadmead.
In our response, we put forward our support for the scheme overall and its alignment with our shared BID vision for transport in the city centre. However, we also asked for further consideration of a number of key aspects, especially around the Broadmead area.
We support the vision to create a high frequency bus route through the city centre, as well as improved cycling infrastructure, improvements to the coach drop off location on Bond Street, and proposed crossing of Temple Way at the junction with Avon Street.
Following our response to the Design and Delivery Plan in September 2023, we have been working closely with the council’s team on the next steps of this work. The council is putting together a Public Realm Design Code which we have fed back on and will be responding in January to the Broadmead Neighbourhood Design Code.
The council have also appointed Rhianon Williams to lead on the next steps for Castle Park including putting together funding bids to enable them to commission further detailed designs and work towards delivery. We will be working with Rhianon to understand what the BID’s investment could do to enable smaller projects in the park, for example, tree lights and wildflower meadows. We’ve also committed to running volunteer gardening sessions in Castle Park in March, April, May and June of 2025 to help the park look its best.
Through our role on the One City Transport Board and growing reputation as a key stakeholder in the city, we will be joining a small group of stakeholders to work with Bristol City Council Transport Officers and Councillors on the early stages of a Kerbside Strategy and Workplace Parking Levy.
The Kerbside Strategy will look at how the ‘kerbside, the space between the pavement and highway, is used in the city. The strategy will consider how this space is used, including opportunities to diversify the space in addition to its use for car parking. Opportunities will likely include green infrastructure, seating and space for businesses to have external seating.
The Workplace Parking Levy is a proposal which will be consulted on over the coming years to charge businesses for workplace parking and invest this money in public transport. The only other Workplace Parking Levy is in Nottingham where the levy has funded a significant proportion of the tram network.
