New Sydney Place and Sydney Road consultation update
This consultation is now closed. The trial will remain in place until a final decision is reached on whether to remove it or make it permanent.
A report on the outcomes, including analysis of traffic and air quality monitoring data, is now available to read.
- Read the Single Member Decision (SMD) Report, including a summary of outcomes
- Read the latest press release on the SMD report recommendation
A decision on whether to make the scheme permanent under a standard Traffic Regulation Order will be made after 15 February 2025 once all outcomes have been considered.
Use this page to learn about the through-traffic restriction trial on Sydney Road at its junction with New Sydney Place.
This trial was installed in April 2024 under an experimental traffic regulation order (ETRO) for a minimum of six months. During this time, we consulted the community and monitored the impacts on traffic and air quality.
Purpose of the scheme
The trial has been introduced under our Liveable Neighbourhood (LN) programme. In line with the broader objectives of the LN programme, the through-traffic restriction aims to:
- prevent motorists from using this residential street as a short cut (to avoid the Bathwick St/Beckford Road A36 junction)
- improve the safety of the Sydney Rd and North Rd junctions with Warminster Road (A36)
- create a safer, quieter, and healthier street for those walking, cycling, or wheeling through the area
- encourage more people in the area to walk or cycle shorter journeys and reduce the numbers of short journeys made by car
We believe that it's important to provide safe and pleasant routes for walking and cycling, because not everyone drives a vehicle (or wants to be dependent on one). It's also widely understood that getting out and about in our communities is good for our health and wellbeing.
Find out more about the Liveable Neighbourhood Programme.
Find out more about the New Sydney Place and New Sydney Road LN area development.
Scheme details
The through-traffic restriction comprises a set of six bollards placed across Sydney Road at its junction with New Sydney Place.
The scheme does not restrict vehicle access to homes, but it may require drivers to take alternative routes from either side of the restriction. Cyclists, pedestrians, and people with mobility aids will be able to pass through the filter. The two central bollards can be removed for access by the emergency services.
Existing parking arrangements on the street have not changed, and no parking has been removed.
Additionally, we have removed the dedicated filter lane into Sydney Road from Warminster Road (A36, towards Bath) and made improvements to junctions. Advanced signage is provided.
Please look at the annotated maps on this web page and expand the corresponding sections below for more detailed information using the numerical key.
- Eight bollards lie across the road at the junction of Sydney Road with New Sydney Place.
- Vehicle access is retained for all homes and businesses on Sydney Road via the junction with Warminster Road (A36), with enough space for vehicles to turn and no loss of parking in front of the bollards.
- Vehicle access is retained for all homes and businesses on New Sydney Place via Darlington St/Pulteney Road (A36) with enough space for vehicles to turn and no loss of parking.
- Advanced warning signs are installed at the junction with New Sydney Place to inform motorists of the through-traffic restriction.
- We have removed the dedicated filter lane into Sydney Road from Warminster Road/A36 (towards Bath).
- We have widened the footpath on the eastern side of Sydney Road at its junction with Warminster Road to narrow the junction.
- We have installed signage to alert motorists of the no-through-road.
- We have widened the footpath on the eastern side of North Road at its junction with Warminster Road and extend the island on North Road to narrow the junction.
- We have improved the informal crossing on North Road at the junction with Warminster Road, by installing dropped kerbs and tactile pavement.
- Advanced warning signs inform motorists of the no-through-road to the A36 via Sydney Road.
Previous public engagement
Please expand the sections below to read more about previous consultations on Liveable Neighbourhoods and in the New Sydney Place and Sydney Road area:
During a public consultation in Autumn 2020 on Liveable Neighbourhoods in B&NES, we received the following results from 1,575 respondents (including residents and visitors to the area):
- 85% said they agreed with the principle of reducing the dominance of vehicles in residential areas
- 84% said they agreed that to establish LNs, it may be necessary to restrict through traffic on certain streets
- 78% agreed that certain trade-offs are required to achieve those aims
During public engagement on the Sydney Road LN area in November/December 2021, the most common issues experienced by residents in the area were ‘through traffic’ and ‘speeding traffic’. We also noted significant support among respondents (75%) in favour of a measure to tackle through traffic.
During our co-design workshops in Summer 2022, residents suggested a modal filter (through-traffic restriction) should be considered to tackle the issue.
Monitoring
We collected traffic air quality data before installation and during the first four to five months of the trial, to understand how traffic flows and air quality changed.
- View the data monitoring outcomes in the Single Member Decision Report. (This includes analysis of traffic and air quality monitoring and a summary of all outcomes.)
- View the raw baseline traffic data (2023/2024)
- View the locations of air quality monitoring data and an interactive map of annual average nitrogen dioxide concentrations
A36 Warminster Road closure
Diversions will be in place for the duration of the closure. This will impact normal traffic flows on Warminster Road in the Bathwick area, so we will not conduct any traffic monitoring during this time.
We will complete our traffic and air quality monitoring for this scheme before these works start, and outside of school holidays. The consultation will remain open until 3 October 2024 as planned.
View the press release on this essential repair work.
What happens next
We will consider all feedback before we decide whether to permanently adopt the scheme or remove it. We will take the following into account:
- Comments received during the trial
- Monitoring data, including traffic and air quality data
- Council policies including our Corporate Strategy, and wider sustainable transport and Climate Emergency policies, such as our Journey to Net Zero ambitions
A decision on whether to make the ETRO permanent must be made within 18 months of the start of the trial.
When a final decision is made, we will inform residents of the outcome by letter.
View ETRO documents
These are legal documents which follow a standard wording and format. You may find the summary of the proposals and the map above are a clearer and simpler way to understand the details of what we are proposing.