Notes of KCG meeting with UHB Trust officers 24 Nov 2008
Now that the Institute building programme is nearly finished, UHB and the Council are looking at how best to re-open the temporarily closed routes through the site.
Cyclists and pedestrians will again be able to use Cottage Place (which will be closed to motor vehicles except for fire engines) and Terrell Street (which will also be used by ambulances taking patients to the Heart Institute). We asked the hospital to reconsider their plans to separate off a narrow strip of the roadway with plant-pots, as we thought it was too cramped for prams, which would in any case have to go into the roadway when they needed to pass, through gaps in the planted area. We think a ‘shared space’ approach would be much more convenient for all concerned, but UHB thought it was now too late to change. We regretted the lack of earlier consultation and agreed to supply the contact details for a local specialist in Shared Space.
Alfred Hill will again be open to pedestrians, with new steps at the bottom leading down to Terrell Street / Cottage Place. We were pleased that new vehicle turning space would be laid in setts, but thought the provision of a footpath all round the edge was a waste of money in a largely traffic-free road. Apparently this is a City Council requirement. We asked for the two lamp-standards in Alfred Hill to be improved by the provision of box lanterns, and UHB have now passed this on to the Council officers involved.
The Woodland Walk will be reinstated, with some new planting, details of which will be supplied to us. However, we did not think the plans for a ramp at the junction with Marlborough Hill would be very successful in practice. We asked for access to the woods at this point to be preserved, but suggested that the current steps be replaced by others, perhaps with pram-rails (as widely used abroad). We think that the whole stip of open space from the Dove Street flats to Horfield road should be seen as a green corridor.
There is a problem at the western end of the walk, because the Bedford Place steps from Horfield Rd are steep and do not lead in the direction most users want (towards the City Centre), but the alternative would be to descend by new steps to a road that is already busy and will soon be used for more construction traffic.
Any changes to Marlborough Hill will depend on the Council’s plans. (We have now heard that these will probably be limited to narrowing the road below the No Entry signs at the Cottage Place crossing).
Remaining issues:
Alfred Hill – Can the two lamp posts be enhanced with box lanterns and new lighting?
Terrell Street – Should the lower BP steps be reinstated? – When the new wards are complete, should there be a protected pedestrian path along the north side of TS? – Sould all or part of TS be shared traffic space?
The woodland walk – How can access from MH be resolved? – When can the construction village fence be removed and the path extended and laid from AH to MH?
