Building a future or destroying a past?

Bristol can count itself lucky that back in the late 60s and early 70s a dedicated group of campaigners and an oil crisis scuppered plans to concrete over the Floating Harbour and Feeder Road and put a stop to bulldozers cutting a huge swathe through the city to create an outer ring road.

However, many more roads did get built and Bristol24/7 looks back at just some of the schemes which divided communities, and how those communities have fought to bring them together again.

The M32 sliced through communities like St Paul’s and Eastville

It may be one of the shortest motorways in the UK but the M32 has certainly been one of the most controversial.

Opened in stages from 1966, the motorway sliced through the corridor of communities in its path.

Martyn Trowbridge remembers his grandmother leaving the family home to make way for the motorway: ““They all had to move out from Twinnell Street for the road scheme.

“You were just told when your house was going to be compulsory purchased, you were allocated new housing in Southmead or Hartcliffe and expected to move on.

“Everyone was so compliant thinking the government, both local and central, knew best.”

“You can write a book on the social issues linked to knocking down close knit streets where generations of families had lived and why we are where we are today,” he adds.

Aerial view of Eastville showing the area being cleared for the M32 motorway Photo Credit: Paul Townsend/FlickR

Such was the impact of the M32 that Bristol lost out on winning the Capital of Culture award in 2008. The chairman of the judging panel said he felt the M32 was a “physical manifestation” of a rift between Easton and St Paul’s.

And so it seemed that the area was left to sink until a group of community activists mobilised. Sue Cohen is chair of community group J3.

“The junction 3 area was historically one of close knit neighbourhoods but since it was driven through by the M32 motorway, parts became neglected. St Paul’s, Easton and Lawrence Hill in particular.”

Sue says that the wasteland around junction 3 used to be a particular problem, leading to “crime and further degeneration of the area and there was no community hub to bring isolated people together”.

The new library and housing development on wasteland at Junction 3 regenerated the area.

The turning point came in 2013 with the opening of the new J3 development and library which gave the group the opportunity to arrange a series of community events and gatherings bringing together the diverse community and helping to tackle social isolation felt by many residents.

Food markets and other events have even started taking place in the pedestrian area crossing the junction – unthinkable only a few years ago.

Almost as soon as Redcliffe Way was built, the community clamoured for it to go.

“We are hung, drawn and quartered here by traffic and it has fragmented the community,” says Melissa Mean from community group Redcliffe Forum.

“The road was built in the 1950s – a classic case of over-engineering with the dual carriage through Queen Square and the flyover. They have now gone and yet the road is still there. It’s a community effort to try and get rid of it.”

Redcliffe Way taken from the corner of Redcliffe Hill 1947 Photo credit: Paul Townsend/FlickR

The group have worked with landowners Bristol City Council to come up with feasibility plans to redevelop the area.

Plans for a continental-style boulevard from Temple Meads to the city centre with public spaces and green infrastructure have been drawn up which, if they get the go ahead, will transform the area and become a fitting gateway into the city centre.

“It is not pie in the sky – it is a once in a generation time to reclaim our community,” says Melissa.

“It’s not just for the neighbourhood – it’s for the whole of Bristol.”

A road of two halves: Easton Way was the first part of the planned outer ring road to be built Photo Credit Dave Betts

Easton Way was built in 1967 as the first part of the Outer Circuit Ring Road, slicing through Stapleton Road.

One of Bristol’s longest, and oldest shopping streets was split in two and the notorious underpasses built for pedestrian access soon became no-go areas for many.

Stapleton Road 1960s All of the buildings in this photo were demolished to make way for the outer circuit road Photo credit: Paul Townsend/FlickR

67-year-old Mike Pickering was born and brought-up just off Stapleton Road and said the area changed dramatically with the arrival of the new road: “People living up at that end of Stapleton Road in Eastville Park would catch a bus into the city centre just to avoid going down under the underpasses.

“It was a defining moment and people would not mix from this end to that.

Mike Pickering has been part of a number of community groups set up to reunite Stapleton Road Photo credit Dave Betts

“Before Easton Way, everyone used to come to the local shops. People used to come into Stapleton Road from across the city. People were friendly and used to speak to each other. That disappeared for a while but it’s now back because people have worked together.”

Stacy Yelland from community group Up Our Street said they have worked tirelessly to reunite the community: “Stapleton Road Working Group said enough is enough and we are not going to put up with this anymore. The police cracked down on crime and people brought the community to it.”

A legacy of the bulldozer: “A very different style of housing and often feels cut-off from the Totterdown terraces elsewhere,” says Simon Hobeck from community group TRESA 

A huge swathe of Totterdown was razed to the ground in preparation for the next stage of the outer-circuit road which would have ploughed through the city from the end of the M32 through Easton, Totterdown, Bedminster, Clifton, Montpelier and rejoin the M32 at junction 3.

Historian William Evans remembers first-hand how the scheme, devastated the community: “I first came to Bristol in 1963. Totterdown was a real community. Many people had lived there for years.

“I first came to Bristol in 1963, to meet the prospective in-laws. Totterdown was a distinct suburb, mostly of 19th century houses, and a thriving shopping area: a Co-op, Fanson’s the ironmongers, Harris & Tozer an upmarket drapers’ and haberdashers’, Mr Stone’s furniture shop, several sets of butchers…It was a real community. Many people had lived there for years.”

The Bush, Totterdown around 1914 Photo credit: Paul Townsend/FlickR

However, he recalls that by 1973 “most of the buildings in the area had gone – demolished in preparation for the proposed outer circuit road”.

“After huge capital outlay, and the dispossession and removal of many residents, the scheme was abandoned when Israel invaded Egypt, OPEC hiked the price of oil, interest rates rocketed, and the scheme became unaffordable. A few buildings remained, the occupants awaiting rehousing.

“It resembled a bombed site after the war, but on a larger scale. Sky-high interest rates plus government policies stopped the council building houses, let alone replace the shops and other facilities that had made it a community. My parents-in-law hung on for a few years, before moving away. Their friends had long gone,” he says.

2000 people were evicted and 550 houses and businesses destroyed – the social and physical fabric of the area was devastated. For more about this time, read the fascinating book Totterdown Rising by Kate Pollard.

The scheme’s physical scars still remain in the Three Lamps Estate and New Walls area.

“The estate has a very different style of housing and often feels cut-off from the Totterdown terraces elsewhere, says Simon Hobeck from community group Totterdown Residents Environmental and Social Action (TRESA). “Some people has said they feel it separates them from the wider community.

“The story is slowly fading even though we try to share it with others. I would say that the split is healing and being forgotten as new people come to the area and older residents pass away.”

While we may look back and shake our heads at the planning decisions of the past, John Parkin, professor of transport engineering at UWE explains the processes behind the road building of the 60s and 70s: “We knew no better – at the time we were just doing what everybody else was doing, thinking that was the right thing.”

So have we finally learnt lessons from the past?

Professor Parkin says we have, on the whole, finally accepted that we cannot build more roads to keep up with demand. He argues that we have plan differently and follow cities in northern Europe, which have been incorporating walking and cycling networks alongside roads for the past 30 years.

He says we now have to retrofit existing roads with high-quality walking and cycling provision and improve public transport.

“People object to suggestions that they should go out and use the bus and cycle because they can see there is not the correct provision there at the moment and that’s where the tension is,” he adds.

So in the short term improving walking, cycling and public transport for the 50% of journeys made in Bristol which are under 5 miles could be feasible however, something much more revolutionary is already being tested in the city which could have a vital part to play in how we use roads in the future.

Academics are already working on driverless car technology in the city and, if all goes to plan, Professor Parkin believes it could transform Bristol’s transport network and how we use our roads over the next 30 years.

Read more on six ways to make Bristol’s roads safer