The coming-into-force of a traffic order banning general traffic from a stretch of Patchway’s Highwood Road was widely ignored by drivers yesterday (Monday 15th).
With no new signage being put out, drivers of cars, vans and lorries continued to traverse the section of road between Charlton Boulevard and Coniston Road, ignoring new regulations that restrict access to buses, taxis and cyclists.
A worker making final adjustments to traffic signal control boxes said it might take some time for drivers to “educate themselves”. The new rules would have to be enforced by the police, he added.
New bus lanes either side of the Callicroft Road/Durban Road junction were brought into service at 3:40pm, when workers removed traffic cones and signage that had been in position during their preparation.
Drivers approaching the Charlton Boulevard junction from the east are expected to turn left into the new Charlton Hayes housing development – indicated by “all traffic turn left” road markings on the carriageway and a small blue-and-white circular sign at the start of the bus-only section beyond the junction.
Similarly, traffic coming from the west is expected to turn left into Coniston Road before the start of the restricted section.
Planners at South Gloucestershire Council decided to close the road to general traffic in order to better integrate Charlton Hayes with the main part of Patchway. The closure was unsuccessfully opposed by a public petition that attracted 4,137 signatures.
Photo: A car ignores the new ‘bus only’ restrictions on Highwood Road.
Photo: Workers remove traffic cones and signage to bring a new bus lane into operation on Highwood Road.
Photo: New bus lane on the approach to the Callicroft Road/Durban Road junction.
Related link: Highwood Road Linear Park (The Journal)
They will soon stop when a marked or unmarked police vehicle(s) start dishing out £60 fines and 3 penalty points.
You will then get moaning drivers saying its the polices way of making money!
No, just learn to obey traffic signs.
I do think maybe the signage needs to be much clearer and not so misleading
It’s no surprise that people ignored it so far. It needs better signage as “Happy” said – but I hope none of the 4,137 signatures flouted the law, as they were well aware of the closure.
Get this measure enforced by way of 3 points and a £60 fixed penalty sooner rather that I think.
These people that are still going up and down Highwood road should be fined straight away ,they are the ones that cause trouble for everyone else
Perhaps the police will do the sensible thing and ignore those going up the bus lane. They will probably only act if there is an accident. Besides it was only put in place by an incompetant council under pressure from money grabbing Bovis, who ignored the wishes of the majority. Can we ever trust the two councilors who signed the petition against closure and then voted for closure. Why do we need Charlton Hayes when there are 3/4 million empty houses in this country. Traffic might be less on Stoke Lane but it is very bad on Gypsy Patch Lane especially by the railway bridge. Why cannot transport planning do anything about it, too difficult, too expensive, not our idea. This has being going on for years. Trouble is South Glos Council is tied to numbers, they must do lots of little schemes to please councilors.
I signed the petition and will not flout the new rules and will obey the closure.
Trouble is who is going to regulate this,the police,dont think so with the reduced resources they now have.I use the A38 everyday sitting in a line of traffic watching other drivers go up the bus lane and into Aztec West,what is the point of bringing in these bus lanes if they are not enforced and the offenders are fined.
True to form SGC managed to make a mess of actually closing the road,with very poor signage.speaking to people who do not live locally,they have no idea the road is now closed to general traffic
So well done SGC from start to finish the entire scheme has been a complete mismanaged shambles,I hope you are proud of yourselves
There three types of driver that use Highwood Lane:
1) Those that use Highwood Road occasionally who may not have seen the BIG illuminated portable signs that have been there for the past week
2) Regular uses that are fully aware that it has closed but are openly flouting the law.
3) The law abiiding majority, a large proportion of those that live locally, but none of whom will deliberately break the law & will use alternative routes.
Those in 1) above are more likely to be unfamiliar with the road and therefore adhere to newly erected and uncovered signs – these are the ones I have noticed turning around at the entance to Charlton Place (I think that’s the right name).
Those in 2) should face the full force of the law (three points & £60 I believe) as they are breaking the law. Just because they’re ‘in the know’ and against the proposal is no excuse for committing a traffic offence. I have already noted a couple of ‘group 2’ drivers performing dangerous manouvers to circumnavigate ‘group 1’ drivers, thus endangering law abiding road users.
After all – if you can not read and adhere to road signs, you should not be let behind the wheel!
I dont think the police will ignore law breakers at all Rebecca ,if they are doing something wrong they will be punished .
As for the wishes of the people that wanted the road to stay open they had plenty of time to put a stop to this road closing they new about the plans over 10 years ago but didnt, they started the petition much to late and that is why it failed
Oh do give it a rest Happy/Angry/Lolly/Yiddo whoever you want to be today, you know full well about the machinations of the previous councillors who were dozing through this process but did nothing about it, Cllrs Dando Graupner and Woodley were our councliiors then on SGC, they raised concerns then but not hard enough, I don’t know what Stoke Lodge SGC Cllrs Hopkinson and Pomfret thought about it during this time as I wasn’t living here then, one would assume they were against it all along after they did participate in the petition and supported the new Patchway Town Council in opposing the closure until their infamous U Turn on the night when they changed their minds after all this and then voted to close it. Much has been said and done, and I have to agree to disagree with you, but sometimes your opiniions on everything everywhere are just too tiresome for me not to bite, and sometimes I will say what I really think, not the done thing, but cripes, you know the price of everything and the value of nothing. Lord give me strength!!
Is it about time Patchway Bloke, Happy and an other weird names had the guts to put their names down like the rest of us. Are they Patchway residents or do they live miles away and just like to crow over our problems.
No we just don’t like to be abused in the street ,which has happened before by giving out our real names that’s why .
And it’s Lolly nothing else thanks David Tilley.And as always you are very rude if you dont agree or like other people’s comments that’s your problem and that isn’t just me thinking that the are a lot of other people whom think that way but are to worried to say it out loud because they know what you are like .
I just like to use the name Happy on here
Now then children, let’s not degernerate into handbags – name calling next? What has happened with regard to the road closure is in the eyes of some, regrettable. There 18 months to reverse the decision if the support is there.
I think the correspindence above has gone away from the subject matter and into political/personal brickbats.
Am getting bored now….
It’s inevitable, and it is a political decision, and its personal when people sit opposite you regularly in PTC meetings and say one thing consistently on a number of subjects, then vote the opposite way with relish at the death at SGC, particularly after one has responded to their urgings to write to LEP’s and other such routes we’ve been told by them will be useful. Ultimately that means people are wasting each others time on a lot of evenings, and taking the michael somewhat, to put it politely.
As for you Happy, I cannot have the patience of a saint reading what you write all the time, you are clearly entitled to your opinion but I note you have the same effect in the Post.
Regards me, I will treat others the way they treat me, I didn’t realise just how gutteral and nasty local ‘politics’ is so when in Rome one tends to succumb likewise. There is no moral highground when dealing with these nasty people, and I’m speaking from my own experiences as are you, but will front up in my own name as there is a problem here as noted on the Bradley Stoke Journal and it goes on in the Post too, when a subject really threatens to damage a certain local MP then there is an inrush of new commentators all from seemingly the same address throwing dirt in defence, and I notice a theme of challenging mental health, as I say, gutteral.
However, maybe you will have the last laugh, if the standards committee finally gets together like it is due to around about now Andy Alsop has a complaint in regards my behaviours, I too have a complaint in regards Brian Hopkinson and his longstanding behaviours and integrity, as do others I believe, along with the whole Roger Avenin Patchway Indian Reservation issue, which to my mind was best summed up on a North American website which picked the story up from here, link was here somewhere.
Anyway, maybe it will all come out in the wash soon, I’ve offered my resignation if it needs to come to that out of respect to my group, not out of guilt but just disgust with the people I sit opposite, and will just see out my term if need be, I don’t wish to trigger an election wasting your taxes, but I cannot abide what goes on behind closed doors, if you think you are being well represented by SGC then good luck to you, you are welcome to it.
I know this is a complete and utter turn off for people who vote, but having seen what I’ve seen first hand I’m giving my opinion on it, sorry.
Bored? Me too.
I thught everyone could comment on here or on the post with out being made to feel like they have to always agree withwhat you say if people don’t agree with what i write then that’s fine but I and many others do not like it when we make a point and other people start to be rude about it ,lfe would be very dull if we all thought the same .
I love these forums like this so we can disuse anything and everything but when it starts to get political and nasty then it’s not so nice to read.
And David T
I do know a little bit about politics and how they all have their own agendas,my brother was fed up with what the local council were or were not doing in his local town so instead of moaning about it from afar where he couldnt do anything he put put himself forward to get on the local council to try and do something within and boy He saw for first hand how everything worked and it was a joke he said .
Happy – As I say you are entitled to your many opinions, but I cannot deny diasageeing with you vigourously, some of these points are very laboured.
But if thats what makes you Happy I do have to respect that, and if its what makes your day a little more interesting then good luck to you, clearly you are a very very active poster, so carry on with how you enjoy life, I have no right to comment on that, your opinions are your own entitlement, I hope some of your views are fruitful and useful in development of a better world.
Thats actually why we do what we do isn’t it, despite disagreements?
I imagine there will be a few vacancies come the next election, please stand and have a go, so you too can have a try at solving local council issues and see how it works for yourself, I should well be gone by then.
Good luck.
Yes i also like our disscusions we have on some of these forums i think i would miss our little spats we have if you left and didnt comment on them anymore .
Also i would love to be more involed in the local council but due to other commitments and working from home i havent enough time to do that.
@Rebecca Strong. I do not feel the need to “show the guts” to put my real name down on this forum. Just for the record I am indeed a resident of Patchway and I don’t think the closure of Highwood Road is a “problem” – even though it will make my journey to the Mall marginally longer too as I will now have to use the new road.
Could anyone tell me whether this lane is open to motorcycles, as is the case with all bus lanes in the surrounding areas, inc Bristol
Steve – nice to see this debate getting back ‘on topic’. The subject at issue is a road closure – nothing else. Makes you wonder if some of the issues raised above were posted against the wrong headline!
Well I work in Patchway and last Christmas was bliss with the new road and Highwood Road worked well but with congestion the way it is and when ever motorway closed everyone one heads down past the mall I am not looking forward to this Christmas at all. I rarely use Coniston but probably will now and gypsy patch is going to be a nightmare. Why when we build new rabbit hutch houses so more traffic we close a road? Why does it need to be closed no brainer if you ask me.
So answer Steve’s question then Canary135!
I don’t honestly know, do you? Don’t tell me I should – please, honest, just joking. Who knows with SGC and how they run things here?
The bus lane seems to be just that, with the exception made for taxis, so can the experts on bus lanes motorcycles and the law please reply, although strictly speaking Highwood Road is not now a bus lane is it, it’s just a road designated for buses and taxis only, not cars, and they forgot to mention motorbikes didn’t they? This isn’t a road closure, it’s a road closed to cars. And maybe motorcycles?
All the issues raised above contributed to this decision, whether you want to ignore that or not. Political decisions rule all our lives, politics is life, life is politics. That is all.
Boring indeed. Not one for discussing in the pub. If we had one.
I think the answer is in the blue sign shown at the top of this post which show a bike a bus and a taxi
You can check the traffic orders here:
https://consultations.southglos.gov.uk/consult.ti/Exp_TROs_HighwoodRd/consultationHome
The order for “prohibition of entry except buses” along the section between Charlton Boulevard and the junction with Coniston Road says that only “a bus, coach, community bus, dial-a-ride bus, hackney carriage, school bus or pedal cycle” may “proceed in the bus lane”.
So motorcycles aren’t allowed, which is consistent with Neil’s observation about the blue sign.
The new signs are not clear at all. I drove down there today and had no idea that I wasn’t supposed to.The electronic signs need to say ‘closed to general traffic’!
They have signs saying Highwood road closed but still people drive down it knowing that they shouldn’t be .
I didn’t know that the dual carriage way was even called highwood lane. The sign needs to say “this road is closed”.
Dave – I couldn’t answer Steve’s question as I was not in possession of the facts, but I note it has since been answered.
Nicola – it’s not called Highwood Lane – it is Highwood Road.
Highwood Lane runs from the ASDA roundabout up the hill and passes between ASDA perimeter and Toys’R’Us to the traffic lights at the ‘T’ junction with Jupiter Road and Britannia Road. (It used to continue to the roandabout at the west end of Highwood Road (Standing Stone Roundabout).
Nicola it does say Highwood road closed at the top and at the bottom but it needs to explain it a bit better than it does now ,people need to understand it better
Thanks for the observations, I still think its crazy, to me crazier still now, but you know that, cheers.
It was changed to “This road is closed” I think when I went to Rodway Road earlier, I still saw a number of cars using it, of course. All of them completely “unaware” it was closed, obviously 😉
Some people just dont like change and I have little doubt that most of the opposition for this is from people who have lived in patchway for a number of years. If were completely honest it will make very little difference in terms of journey time to get to cribbs from patch, slightly concerned however that the new road and gypsy patch junction will be hectic especially over xmas. Patchway has needed to revitialised for a long time and the extra money being spent on charlton hayes will only help to raise the standards for patchway also.
All in all some people just love a winge
Maybe the best option is to grass it all over completely then instead of this half measure, if those convinced the road isn’t needed would prefer?
That would give Patchway and Charlton Hayes Filton a real park and open space that is truly car free and able to be used as a park for sports and activities unlike a so called linear park which is neither here or there with buses running alongside it.
The buses serve better that way around Coniston and that would guarantee the service still covering Coniston instead of abandoning it, which some people fear.
I’m watching plenty ignore the new rules, and plenty are probably ignorant and oblivious of them, so while the ‘bus lane’ remains open it will be used unless the law really clamp down, but they are surely stretched enough dealing with real crime and their services being cut too.
There is a clear majority of a handful of people on here who want the road to be closed so those voices must be heard accordingly.
Start issuing £60 tickets and three points penalties and it’s amazing how peoples’ eyesight will improve with regard road signs once the ‘bush telegraph’ starts!
If I were to go to another town and start ignoring road signs I would expect to be punished!
As someone who has now lived in Patchway all my life from a child to a parent i have no major worries about the road being closed, as others have stated it will make getting to the mall/Asda etc slightly longer but what does concern me is the fact we all know Patchway will be used during as a cut through by many people from outside patchway. The Road currently are some of the most appauling in Bristol almost needing a a 4×4 to stop the your cars from bumping up and down the roads. So this begs the question if the roads aren’t fit for the current flow of traffic how on earth are they going to cope with a increase it will turn coniston to a off road track at this rate. I read somehwere Patchway isn’t due road resurfing until 2015, jesus I’d have replaced my suspension and springs several times by then. If they Sort Patchway roads out to be like Charlton Hayes im all for it if not we need less traffic not more
I’m told and I believe they are queing up on Coniston at either entrance.
Ridiculous. As said above, the road is falling apart. I hope this extra traffic is being recorded by the clowns at SGC.
Again, from friends and eye witness reports, I’m told the Police were on Highwood Sunday night to advise drivers the road is now closed.
I’m told no one was fined etc, maybe they sympathise over stupid decisions, as they have been called Plebs too by these ConDem clowns.
That won’t last forever, but it’s interesting to note we had the emergency services support at Safer and Stronger meetings, if any commentators ever bother to get off their arses and attend community meetings they might learn something, but it’s easy to be a anon troller over a trier.
The queing will only get worse, what will i take the death of a small child knocked over by cars cutting through Patchway to avoid the bypass to the mall before they take action and do the right thing.
Well here we are ten days after the road closure was put into practice and drivers are still ignoring/failing to see the signs. I spent 30 minutes stood at the junction of Highwood Road and Sycamore Drive this morning and recorded 77 – that’s seventy-seven – unauthorised vehicles using the road. I signed the petition against this bus lane and believe it is a big mistake but I will uphold the law myself and do what I can to harrass others until they do too. Whatever the council say about this being an 18 month experiment we need to get used to the idea that it ain’t gonna go back to the way it was. Just remember those councilors that voted in favour of the closure and make sure you don’t vote for them next time around.
But why hasnt anyone in authority done anything about all these drivers that are breaking the law ,we have seen the police there for a few hours the other day but they were just giving out warnings.Doesnt matter if we are for or against this road closing the law is the law so why are these people getting away with it and doing it so Blatantly.
Hi Peeved
I watch those numbers using the road as you do, with bemusement. Highlights how busy it is but I’m not here to point that out.
Just please go careful in trying to upkeep the law yourself, don’t put yourself in danger on the road, we don’t want anyone getting hurt.
Harassing people in cars is dangerous, just takes one idiot to react badly and do the wrong thing, and we have an accident on our hands.
Agree with Dave on the point about not getting involved yourself. Never worth the potential hassle of one person who doesn’t want to be told.
Happy is right too, the law is the law and I think it’s disgraceful that it isn’t being enforced at all, let alone stringently.
Refer to comment posted on Monday:
Start issuing £60 tickets and three points penalties and it’s amazing how peoples’ eyesight will improve with regard road signs once the ‘bush telegraph’ starts!
If I were to go to another town and start ignoring road signs I would expect to be punished!
Yes but you’re a masochist! 😉
Oh no, that’s me…
I blame Mr Grey.
Dave did you mean THE Mr Grey lol
Well I didn’t mean our very own Lew Grey here, that’s for sure!
A community servant for decade after decade here.
Keep smiling folks, one day this will all make sense, sometimes it’s best not to reason why?
I started to read all your comments about this issue, this road has even closed and people are too stupid to read road signs, excuse me if someone has already recommended this but I got bored of the name calling! Just put up two number plate cameras, this will stop people overnight! Surely a no brainier!
Sorry been!
That’ll learn them! (sic)
Why bother, decision will be reversed after 18 months, shirley?
Just forgot about it now would be easiest, no one will know any different, I won’t tell.
That linear park aint gonna happen, just walked the dog up there in between the traffic, Bovis have pulled off a coup, bought a dual carriageway, shut a road, got to build their houses facing out onto where it used to be, with space for a garden, and now an access road and a place to park your car, the linear park is just a strip of green with some trees to save the planet, man.
Bovis, founded by Keith Joseph’s from the Tory party’s Dad, Bovis,supported by Jack Lopresti from the Tory party, and Bovis deal agreed to by the SGC Tory Council and their Liberal mates.
Still, why not, it’s their road now, they paid for it. Anything goes and money talks.
Nobody in Patchway is happy about having to travel all the way around Coniston, over speed bumps it’s making the road busier and people who don’t live in Patchway are using it as a rat run. I’ve noticed the back streets getting a lot busier and with so many children wandering around it’s becoming unsafe for them I’m dreading the summer when there will be even more children and more cars. There is no real reason to shut this road. It’s just causing problems. Christmas times going to be fun it’s going to be an absolute nightmare.
Ever heard of the saying if it’s not broken then don’t fix it!!!!!
We Have noticed a few more cars coming down coniston road but untill people from outside of the area know what road to use they will use this road,but as for the back streets being busy i and a lot of other people wouldnt drive down these because of the parked cars ,thats why some of the buses have stopped going down them,but we havent noticed any difference on these roads really.
You will never please everyone about the road being partly closed but fingers crossed and a lot of letters being wrote to local Coucillors in 18month it will go back to the way it was.
Do you need need to be of below average intellegence to be an SGC councellor? Any fool can surely see that closing a main arterial route and forcing traffic through two housing estates in utter madness. We arent just talking cars either people what about all the HGVs that used highwood rd? They will either have to go through the estates or divert to the motorway for one junction therefore adding to the chaos in the wider area. Traffic in north bristol has alway been bad, but I fear even this road closure will pale into insignificance once developers get their hands on the air field…
Those of you moaning about law breaker motorists should be more concerned with your councils blatent lack of reason and their ability to ‘do the right thing’ by their constituents. Just because they have done something it doesnt make it right. Unfortunately it seems that as they havent broken any laws they can do what they want and hang the consequences.
To get to Little Stoke from my Patchway Road I can either go along the whole of Coniston Road, or via Hays Way instead down Highwood like I used to be able to. And yes, it adds to the journey time which is not good for my child care costs for starters, not to mention the fuel! But I guess it’s my fault for buying a house here.
How many people from Bradley Stoke and Little Stoke are going to use Coniston as a short cut to get to The Mall this Christmas? I’ve been told that Charlton Hays has been designed to reduce rat-running through there. Some of my friends living along Coniston have noticed heavier traffic, and have raised concerns about pupils trying to get to Patchway Community College.
And, yes, the linear park. I didn’t realise it was a linear car park for residents of Charlton Hays! It didn’t look like that on the artists impressions.
I’m not suprised that people are continuing to use the now shut road. The police cannot be there 24/7 and unless Bovis/SGC stump up the costs for cctv with number plate recognition then people will carry on taking the risk. Having cycled down there I can say it is still no safer than before the closure, and the workmen have less protection from traffic now as it is not directed properly due to not supposed to be there. I can see them having to put gates on the road like in the WillowBrook Centre.
It would also be nice to see how the buses find it – whether it really helps their journey times, although as the bus lane is so short I don’t think it will help that much.
It makes me laught to see the sign on Hayes telling us how Bovis helped fund the shiny new road. Now are they going to fund the repairs to Coniston now there is more traffic using it thanks to them?
People from little stoke will use Hayes way why would they use coniston it’s much more out of their way and as for people from Bradley stoke they will do the same or use the motorway
‘Fed up’ and ‘Happy’ have the same email address.
A polite reminder that we ask contributors to use a consistent name when leaving multiple comments on a story.
Yeah great Fed up/Happy, People are going to que on the motorway to get to the mall from Bradley stoke, yeah great one – surely you don’t believe that, with the constant road works carried out on the M4 with average speed camera’s and heavy traffic it would take 40 + minutes to get there on busy shopping day especially with Xmas due and Jan sales etc.
I turned into coniston road the other day and followed a train like que of car all the way round coniston with only a few turning off, quite clearly people using Patchway as a rat run to get down to patchway roundabout to avoid the now closed highwood road.
Please can we stop calling Coniston road a ‘rat run’, any road that has a bus route on it cannot really be called such.
The similarities between Brook Way in Bradley Stoke and Coniston road are very close. They both have speed bumps, lots of residential roads running off from them, both run from one end of their town to the other and are used as bus routes yet nobody would claim that by driving along Brook Way you are using it as a rat run.
I live in Bradley Stoke and used Highwood road as a daily commuter to Bristol, I stopped using it a couple of months ago and now use Hayes Way and apart from a poor traffic control system on the A38 it works OK.
I suggest people Google Map Coniston Road and look at how far it is taking them out of their way to get to the Mall. It really is a no brainer that Hayes Way is the obvious route to take but it takes time for people to realise it.
NeilB
With respect I appreciate and understand your view, but isn’t it all relative to your start point, where you are going, and where you want to get, aren’t there many variables to this not just one answer suits all?
The whole subject of ‘rat runs’ has been debated here before, they don’t actually exist?
However, it’s people’s way of expressing a view that it’s a short cut through a residential area on unsuitable roads for such levels of traffic isn’t it, buses or not?
I think Neil B makes a valid point. It’s too easy to ignore that a lot of the “uproar” is due to people not liking any sort of change/inconvenience.
@ Dave Tiley – I don’t think for most it IS a shortcut. That’s the point isn’t it? Posts on this story have proved that some people would be prepared to drive further to travel their usual route than change and drive a different route.
One thing I would say however, is that SGC etc have handled the change over very badly.
Don’t really get your point SH yes I go by the name Happy everyone knows that so were is the mix up ,if you are refering to the the Fed up tittle that’s because I was and still am with all the talk about Highwood road it’s getting boaring now ,we have lots of other topics to chat about that is going on in Patchway and the surrounding areas.
Happy, the point is it’s not fair for one person to use several different names in the same discussion. It creates imbalance by giving the impression that his/her view is shared by several people. If you’re “fed up” about something, just say so in the body of your comment. Thank you.
Patchway Bloke
Again, it varies on start and end points.
I feel the ‘uproar’ as you term it is based on this being ill-considered and unnecessary.
Rememeber the previous councillors here failed to forward these concerns they noted, that is on record.
If I believed the decision was rational and necessary I would support it, but I think it’s ill thought out and benefits no one but Bovis and the new houses able to face out onto the new road and park cars there now, but I believe Bovis bough the old road to do so, so that’s between them and SGC who had the money?
I don’t see much of a linear park there, or one coming when finished, if people want a park, give them a park, and turf over the whole of Highwood Road, no cars, no buses, no way through for those who choose to defy the law and keeping the bus service safe for Coniston users, who worry it will be lost now.
If Bovis did buy the road then they will have passed that cost on to someone else ie their customers as in any business.
Has anyone who lives in Charlton Hayes ever commented on how great it is to have a linear park (that has probably added over £1k or more per property to finance).
Would they not have preferred to have had their legal fees paid or £1k off of their mortgage?
I did not support the road closure and have commented on here before that I will obey the closure,but already I am getting irratated at the extra time and cost to go about my daily business.I live in Windremere and yesterday I went to Cribbs four times (took the wife to work and picked her up as it was raining,collected my mother from Boots,and went out later for a meal) each time I drove up Coniston and back down Coniston I refuse to drive down the A38 and up the new road which actaully doubles the distance.
I am sure the majority of people in this part of Patchway do the same,so Coniston is going to take a hammering, and it will not cope,the surface at the bottom end would disgrace the third world
I do not enjoy using Coniston but thanks to our lieing,back stabbing councillers I have very few options
Yes Ray, the majority of people in Patchway will be doing the same to get to their destinations. I’ve googled my destinations and found Coniston Road is the shorter option for me, unfortunately.
If you live in Patchway then you are going to use the roads in Patchway whats wrong with that !!!!
I dont see what the problem is anymore ,if its because people have to drive a little bit further then thats what we have to do .but going by the cars on Highwood road still they are still ignoring the signs not to use it.
I have just been to The Mall for the first time in a number of weeks. Obviously I noticed that there was a big flashing sign on the A38 saying that Highwood Road is closed but, unfortunately I don’t know the names of all of the streets in that area so I didn’t realise that it was the old dual carriageway leading to The Mall until I reached the midway point (at the cross roads) and the bus lane kicked in.
Fairly confused I turned left, as directed, straight into a new housing estate. I, and the five other cars in front and behind me, then spent some time trying to find a route through the estate to rejoin the road but to no avail so we had to turn back, reversing in small residential streets to find a way out. Sorry guys, but I then turned left and travelled up Highwood Road, not because I wanted to flout the new layout, but because I simply did not know what else to do. When you have reached that point where are you supposed to go?
On the way back from the Mall I followed the instruction and turned left – driving all the way down Coniston Road until I met back up with the Patchway Roundabout.
I have not had any visibility of the political debate or the views of the local residents but anything that encourages/forces additional traffic (even by mistake) through busy residential streets must be a very bad idea?
Whilst fining people who use Highwood Road might ensure that those individuals find an alternative route – or simply spend their money elsewhere – as Christmas approaches and more people, who are not familiar with the road names or the new layout, travel to The Mall I think that there will be chaos, not just for shoppers but for the poor residents who will have streams of lost drivers trundling through their streets.
You are spot on Julie the signs are not clear enough to explain the new road lay out ,it needs to be more clearly marked out other wise people like yourself will do just as you have done by going the wrong way .SGC need to put up better sign posts
Speeding drivers forced me off the road yesterday. Cycling down Highwood Road is dangerous. Is anyone monitoring the situation?
They are now 5 cars with cams and clip boards all parked up on the side of the road watching the cars ignore the signs
Julie is absolutely right. I am not local so am not familiar with all the street names so not aware the road I was driving on was Highwood Road. I see someone has finally seen sense to replace the old sign with one that actually states the road is closed. I feel sorry for traders in Patchway as I work part time for a disabled person living on Sycamore Road who regularly used her local shops in Patchway, but with the extra cost and inconvenience incurred by using an alternative route it is now preferable to use the supermarkets at the mall.
Thats rubbish Ian there is a mini bus that people can use to take them anywhere they would like to go there is no need to go without ,and Ian trade is doing fine at Rodway going by the amount of cars coming and going at the shops.
Sorry Happy, but you are the person spouting rubbish, since Highwood has been closed its quicker for us to drive to the Mall and get things like milk and bread even newspapers, I used to travel to the spar 4 or 5 times a week, I haven’t used the Spar since the road closed, but lots of people are still using Highwood, I have also witnessed several large lorry’s turn into Coniston because Highwood is closed, even through there is still a 7.5 ton weight restriction on Coniston, this road closure IS pushing more traffic onto the back roads of Patchway on the journeys I have made to the council office and the Allotments I have driven both ways down Stroud road, something I have never done before!!!
Chris that’s your choice to not use the local shops no body else’s,until people take notice of the new signs yes they are still going up the road and as for people going on Coniston road if they really have to (which most don’t)its up to them .
How many Homes are there in Patchway?
3 primary Schools & 1 Secondary School in Patchway. I’m not sure on nursery numbers.
Most Parents walk their children to and from School….having a School less than a 10 minutes walk away, why would you not? With this road closure it has REALLY increased traffic through Patchway especially between peak travel time 7.30am – 9am WHEN CHILDREN ARE WALKING TO SCHOOL. It’s stupid.
The road closure should be put to a vote for THE RESIDENTS of Patchway of whom it impacts. Not people that do not even live in Patchway.
A one minute car journey, on a main road, where there are no children has now been redirected through a residential area, with cars on either side of the road, with children walking to School. Where’s the common sense?
Driven by a financial incentive from Charlton Hayes?? I think so.
Kelly roads all over the city are used daily by lots of cars and are very busy indeed ,children walk along them daily are
they are alot more busy than Coniston road.Children walk on busy roads every day around us all with no problems look at Brooke way that’s always busy and children walk to school along that road.They are Primary Schools the 2 in Patchway so parents should be walking with them and making sure they are safe.
And they did try to keep this road open with 4000 names on a list against it closing
As for Coniston road it has alway been a main road for getting around Patchway
I think the traders of Rodway Road are the people to ask if the road closure is affecting them, I’m sure they have a view, and I’m not sure it’s a good one, these are hard times for them I believe.
I agree with all your points Kelly and hope SGC will listen next time.
I’m not sure Brook Way was a good example Happy, wasn’t a child knocked down there recently causing a campaign there too? Apologies if I’m wrong on the road there in BS, can you clarify please Mr Editor?
@Dave Tiley, You may be thinking of Bradley Stoke Way, where two young people were seriously injured in separate road traffic accidents last year.
Trade seems to be back to normal after all the road works going by all the people using the shops ,if trade is down its not because of the road its to do with the recession we have had .
@Editor – Ah thank you, wasn’t sure, yes, that’s the one.
@Happy I’m none too sure on your reasoning regards the shops traffic and footfall, I’m not convinced but as I say, they can answer for themselves, in the meantime agree to disagree with you as usual!
The only people seeming to prosper in retail these days are bookies, pawn brokers and money lenders, signs of desperate people in desperate times, indeed as you say due to this ongoing double dip recession which this Govt. doesn’t seem to a have growth strategy to resolve.
Yes but wasnt it because this government had to clean up after the last government that left this country in a mess .
Here we go, time for political tennis! Fair play, I started it… 😉
I believe THE WORLD was brought to its knees by greedy and corrupt gambling BANKERS, whichever Government was in charge, all allowed to run riot unregulated, and don’t tell me any Govt. would regulate them differently, they still haven’t.
Check out The Robin Hood Tax Video with Bill Nighy on You Tube, it’s Brilliant, and an alternative, instead of more of the same.
I won’t get embroiled in this one, as no one will convince me any different.
Anyway, back to Highwood Road, what a stupid decision to close it!!
People are ignoring the signs because we didnt want it closed in the first place!
I have noticed the effects of the closure already, coniston road is alot busier and it takes alot longer to pull out of my street due to coniston being used as a rat run. The roundabout where the new link road joins up at the mall is also always congested now as people leaving the mall have to go straight across to the link road, instead of left to highwood road. I hate to think what its going to be like when all the christmas shoppers arrive.
There was no need to close this road, it really does baffle me, what benefit does it have?
Its being closed as an ‘experiment’ if people continue to drive down it and cause problems then maybe the council will finally get it into their heads that this was a wrong decision!
So, could someone please tell me, Now that this daft, ill conceived badly planned road that no one wanted in the first place is up and running with empty buses and that the majority of residents in Patchway have absolutely no intention of “integrating” with our new neighbours on the other side of the carriageway, has anyone noticed that Coniston Road is now like a ‘trunk road’ and the closer one gets to Christmas the worse it will get like today (Friday 23rd November) when it was almost ‘gridlocked’ for the turning left into Coniston Road not to mention all the pollution that extra heavy traffic causes…….. Is that now it…….. Or can we, as residents of Patchway overturn and reverse this unbelievable fiasco ???
Power to the people!! If we all ignore the signs, don’t pay the fines and just keep driving down Highwood then the Council will have to listen?!!!
YES??
@Rick D – For a start, the traffic problems you alude to were caused by some lorry over turning on a slip road on the Motorway, so no, that wasn’t due to Highwood Road being closed. I tried to get home via Bradley Stoke and in general it was all completely snarled up. All of the roads were.
You want an idea of what traffic used to be like at Christmas at the mall, or when JLS were coming, or whatever else you lot come out with? Try living where I do IN PATCHWAY. At times it was a parking lot, the new road has aleviated a lot of the problems with traffic for sure. It’s “spread it out” if you will. Yes Coniston Road is “busier” – it was quiet as feck before mind, so it’s moot.
I maintain that what anyone who says they can’t stand the road closure is really upset about is MINOR INCONVENIECE. I also have to do “a big loop” as has been said here or elsewhere, probably adds 5 mins to me journey to the Mall. If I can cope? Why can’t all the moaners?
@ Kelly?
Hope you get fined. Over and over. “Power to the people”? You for real? Everyone who has moaned and moaned about this change is really moaning about a minor change to their routine. In reality that’s what it is. Bit of a pain, but nothing insurmountable.
But it IS isn’t it? Change and that fecks you all off? Laughable.
Hi Patchway Bloke.
You are not nomally this wound up, and while the written word is badly open to misinterpretation, and I worry I’m taken the wrong way too, your latest posts are rather aggressive shouty and sweary but for a letter change, but hey, we’re all fed up too sometimes, and hey, I’m very guilty of that.
All I ask is what’s good with this change to Highwood Road, what good does it do, and is it needed or justified now? Will it work well in the future as more and more houses and trafic are coming here?
Away from that let’s not stifle debate, but let’s not waste it either, please all make sure you let SGC know how you feel about this, whether for it or against it, as they need to hear throught the correct channels, so please follow the links posted here.