Green Councillors on Sheffield’s Transport, Regeneration and Climate Change Committee have welcomed all-party agreement on bus priority improvements on Ecclesall Road, Abbeydale Road and London Road.
The report was passed unanimously by Councillors from all parties. (1)
The report made clear that further measures could be considered once an assessment of how effective these proposals were once implemented and said:
“Any implementation of these works will trigger a subsequent review. This will be undertaken to determine if further bus priority measures are required. This may include options to amend bus lane hours of operation along these corridors and the enhanced enforcement of parking and loading restrictions with red routes. “
Councillor Christine Gilligan, Deputy Chair of the Transport, Regeneration and Climate Change Committee said,
“I welcome the unanimous support for the range of proposals, starting with the improvements to junctions and the introduction of camera enforcement on bus lanes. These roads are subject to serious congestion and this has severely impacted on the reliability of bus services which are subject to significant delays.
“It is also important to acknowledge that Councillors of all parties have committed themselves to review the scheme and see if further bus priority measures might be required at a later date” (2)
Councillor Douglas Johnson, Leader of the Green Group said
“It was nice to see an outbreak of cross-party working. Work can now go ahead on junction improvements and then we can consider further bus priority measures later should they be needed.
“As Greens, we support measures that promote public transport, which helps with the cost of living as well as tackling climate change.
“I am also very pleased to see the committee approve improvements to walking, cycling, traffic management and parking in Kelham Island. As a ward councillor, I have been discussing this with residents for many years. This will make Kelham Island more joined up with the city centre, promote walking, cycling and public transport and improve the local environment where so many people live.”
Cllr Ruth Mersereau said:
“It’s very welcome news that the committee has unanimously approved further progressing the Kelham Island and Neepsend scheme. This has been designed to help to reduce bus journey times and to provide safer, more direct and attractive walking and cycling routes from these two neighbourhoods to the city centre.”
NOTES
2.Councillors endorsed the report that explains “a red route would include replacing yellow lines with red lines to allow more effective camera enforcement of illegal parking. Red routes are one option available to Traffic Authorities to enforce illegal parking or loading more effectively. However, parking, loading and unloading can still be accommodated on red route corridors during certain periods. The determining factor for the times that parking is allowed on red routes are normally the hours of operation of bus lanes, or those periods when corridors experience congestion. For example, a red route could be introduced on a corridor that has morning and afternoon peak period bus lanes.”
The report also confirms overall project sentiment from people living in the area 45% positive to 43% negative, despite a prominent campaign against bus priority
