On 15th November, 17 of us met at City Hall to exchange ideas on how walking can be supported and promoted through Neighbourhood Partnerships. With people attending from 10 of the 14 NPs, this showed that walking is seen as an important part of how we get around and interact with each other in neighbourhoods across the city.
We discussed a number of topics including:
– checking vehicle speeds
- taking part in Community Speedwatch
– the shared use of routes by walkers and cyclists
- should be segregated where possible for new routes
- better signage to promote appropriate behaviour where routes have to be shared
– pavement obstructions
- sharing informal cards to put on cars blocking pavements
- local action and liaison with Bristol Waste to deal with bins on pavements
– getting people walking
- interest in producing more walking maps
- support for training walk leaders
– including support for walking in Neighbourhood Partnership Plans
- particularly when plans are reviewed for 2017/18
All of these could be suitable topics to raise at future Neighbourhood Forums, encouraging residents to get involved in their local area. It also confirmed there are some city-wide issues that BWA could help push forward, such as shared use signage, stronger local laws on pavement parking, and promotion of walking as an essential form of travel requiring equality of access.
Here are some links that may help local residents, supported where possible by their NP, to take the next steps:
www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/services/watch-community-schemes/community-speedwatch/
- To sign up to volunteer for Community SpeedWatch
www.fixmystreet.com or www.bristol.gov.uk/report-a-street-issue
- To report to the council and to track progress on street problems such as tagging, fly-tipping, fly-posting, broken paving slabs, overgrown hedges, abandoned vehicles, broken signs etc.
https://www.bristol.gov.uk/residents/museums-parks-sports-and-culture/parks-and-open-spaces
- To report parks problems such as damaged paths, overflowing waste bins, broken play equipment etc.
https://www.bristol.gov.uk/residents/social-care-and-health
- Walking groups, and volunteering to be a walk leader
- To get in touch with your local Neighbourhood Partnership, including finding out when meetings will be held and applying for Wellbeing small grants.