City traffic chaos 'caused by human error'

Severe city traffic causing hours of delays was the result of human error, the leader of a council has said.

Maggie Tyrrell from South Gloucestershire Council said jams throughout Monday in Filton, north of Bristol, happened after contractors mistakenly "closed off a turning that shouldn't have been closed".

One woman told the BBC a journey that would normally take 20 minutes lasted three hours.

Liberal Democrat Ms Tyrrell was speaking to BBC Radio Bristol's John Darvall in an hour-long interview that also covered parking charges in Kingswood and council tax rises.

The traffic in Filton was partly caused by the planned closure of the A38 flyover for roadworks.

Ms Tyrrell said a "perfect storm" of an issue on the M5 at the same time exacerbated the problem.

But she said months of planning and traffic modelling meant the impact of the A38 closure should not have been so severe.

Kingswood parking charges

Ms Tyrrell said that parking charges recently introduced to Kingswood, Bristol, would not be dropped.

Many businesses have reported a decline in footfall as a result – and a butcher in Kingswood Indoor Market has decided to close.

Residents need to "come to terms" with parking charges in Kingswood, Ms Tyrrell said

But the council leader said: "We have to bring in the revenue and we've kept the charges as low as we possibly can.

"We are monitoring what's going on. In all the authorities that we've looked at where parking charges have been imposed, there's been a dip [in footfall] and then it's come back up to where it was.

"It is a question of people basically coming to terms with it."

She said more people were now using buses "which is great news".

Rising taxes

As is the case with local authorities across the country, South Gloucestershire Council is struggling with a funding shortfall.

Ms Tyrrell said there was currently a gap of around £25m between revenue and expenditure.

She said council tax in South Gloucestershire was likely to rise again next April.

"At the moment we can't see how it would not [go up]," she said.

"We need government to step in," she added.

To listen to the interview in full, go to BBC Sounds or watch via this link.