Police with drones used the cover of darkness to allow council workmen to finish off a controversial Low Traffic Neighbourhood scheme.
Council staff and ETM contractors were supported by a huge police presence in Barton Hill, Bristol at 3am this morning to install planters, bus gate signs and paint the roads.
Previous efforts to install the traffic blockers have been met with mass protests and a small group of residents were alerted to this morning’s work and tried to stop it at 4.30am.
But the force’s coordinated operation meant work was being carried out at multiple locations at the same time, as dozens of officers and the police drone operator team swarmed the area, allowing contractors to work unhindered for the first time.
A handful of local residents tried to stop the installation in the five remaining locations, but only succeeded at one – where a group of women lay down in the road to prevent the completion of one of the bus gates.
One police liaison officer was filmed telling the protesters they would be blocking the highway if they continued with their protest – even though the highway had already been blocked by ETM’s lorries.
In chaotic scenes between 4am and 5am, a small group of women physically stopped the completion of the bus gate at the Marsh Lane junction, and cheered when the council and the police retreated.
But the dawn revealed the council workmen had been successful in installing the controversial planters, road blockages and bus gates in other locations – including two locations on Victoria Avenue, on Cobden Street and Dulcie Road.
Council staff and ETM contractors were supported by a huge police presence in Barton Hill, Bristol at 3am this morning to install planters, bus gate signs and paint the roads
The dawn revealed the council workmen had been successful in installing the controversial planters, road blockages and bus gates
Previous efforts to install the traffic blockers have been met with mass protests and a small group of residents were alerted to this morning’s work (pictured: Residents of Barton Hill staged a protest in November 2024)
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The bus gates on Avonvale Road do not yet appear to be operational – temporary electronic signs indicate it’s not yet active – but the work to complete the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood has been completed in other locations in the area.
One of the residents who came out in the middle of the night was Fadumo Farah, who lives in nearby Barton House.
‘We got out after 4.30am but they had been there since around 3am,’ she said.
‘I have never seen more police in one place, there must have been 60 of them, and they had the drone up. We had to split up to try to get to all the locations, but we couldn’t manage it.
‘We laid down in the road at Avonvale Road, about four of us, and they stopped their work and left,’ she added.
Implementation of the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood has so far involved the city council attempting to prevent through traffic on a number of roads, mainly in St George and Redfield, but this morning a key route through Barton Hill is the subject of action.
Avonvale Road runs east-west along the north side of Netham Park and into the heart of Barton Hill.
At its junction with Marsh Lane – a spot famous for the Banksy on the corner there – the city council want to prevent cars and vans from continuing to travel west into Barton Hill, while still allowing bikes and pedestrians.
