Fears road closure and increased in traffic will ‘decimate’ hamlet
All around us things are happening which could destroy the community
Ben Bird, left
AN Easter Compton resident fears the closure of a road to traffic will “decimate” his neighbourhood.
Ben Bird lives at the bottom of a hill, in Compton Greenfield, a hamlet of around 10 houses.
Surrounded by farmland, it dates as far back as the 11th century, when it was mentioned in the Domesday Book.
But Mr Bird, a 34-year-old business consultant, is concerned a scheme to convert Hollywood Lane from a road to a cycle path could cut off the rural community from January 4.
“We live on Berwick Lane, at the bottom of Hollywood Lane,” he said. “For two or three months around this time of year, water runs off the hill and our road floods a foot deep.
“It floods very quickly and doesn’t drain for a couple of hours. This happens once or twice a week during these months.
“For my electric car, which is quite low, the only route in and out of Compton Greenfield when it floods is Hollywood Lane. They’re closing it without considering the ramifications of cutting us off.”
The dad of two also has serious concerns about the impact of the closure on traffic in Easter Compton.
The project is part of a Highways England and South Gloucestershire Council plan to improve the National Cycleway between Cribbs Causeway and Severn Beach.
It is intended to support the new £50million junction on the M49 – but though it was finished in 2019, the junction still cannot be used because developer Delta Properties is yet to connect it to the local road network.
The unbuilt road would connect the motorway to Western Approach Distribution Park, used by companies including Amazon, Lidl and Tesco, but the completion date is unknown.
“The cycle path is supposed to be needed for Amazon workers, when the junction isn’t even ready to be used yet,” Mr Bird said.
“We already have huge numbers of lorries coming through this small village daily due to poor transport links to Amazon.”
Mr Bird fears congestion in Easter Compton will worsen with the closure of Hollywood Lane, the relocation of Bristol Zoo to Wild Place Project in 2024, and Harrow Estates’ planned expansion of the village with around 500 new homes.
“It’s going to decimate the old and beautiful hamlet of Compton Greenfield,” he said.
“Our house is 400 years old. We moved here about two years ago and it’s really beautiful, but all around us things are happening which could destroy the community.
“There will be further congestion at Junction 17 of the M5. The sheer weight of traffic is quite dangerous, and at 8am lots of people cut through Easter Compton.
“People in Compton Greenfield are suffering already because of the noise from the distribution park. When the leaves are off the trees, you can hear the forklift trucks.”
Mr Bird says he did not hear back from the council when he objected to the closure of Hollywood Lane in 2019.
He only found out it was going ahead in recent weeks, when he saw a worker putting up a sign saying it would shut to traffic on January 4.
A council document says 29 people supported closing Hollywood Lane to traffic and 28 opposed it, during the consultation.
One local submitted the comment: “Closure of Hollywood Lane will further imprison residents of Easter Compton who are gradually unable to move around the local because of development around the village and surroundings areas.” There was also positive feedback. One supportive resident commented: “Hollywood Lane is a fatality waiting to happen.”
A Highways England spokesman said work on the M49 junction is ongoing and he hopes it will be ready for use “in the near future”, though no specific timescale has been given.
The council has approached for a comment. been