Decision made over plans to shut Isambard Brunel Road to traffic making it bus only

Plans to make a city centre road bus-only were “vetoed” by Portsmouth City Council’s cabinet member for transport with the widened route now set to be open to all vehicles.

Councillor Gerald Vernon-Jackson said he ruled out the original plan for the South East Hampshire Rapid Transit scheme for Isambard Brunel Road because it would have a limited effect on bus journey times.

“I completely support the idea of keeping Isambard Brunel Road open to traffic because I don’t think it’s going to hurt those bus times and we shouldn’t be shutting roads if we don’t need to,” he said at his decision meeting on Thursday (October 12).

The City Centre South scheme is one of 23 funded through the £56m grant awarded by the government in 2020 and also includes the installation of new pedestrian crossings on each arm of the roundabout at the south of Commercial Road.

Safety concerns over the Isambard Brunel Road pinch point prompted its widening and crossing improvements to be included in the project.

The council had originally planned for this stretch of road to be made bus-only and only last week published an impact assessment including this. The South East Hampshire Rapid Transit website was also only updated earlier this week.

Cllr Vernon-Jackson was told the report was “obsolete” and added to his meeting agenda by mistake. It was then replaced by a supplementary paper.

“We have a responsibility to try and make sure that the buses run on time and both the designs mitigate against that,” Cllr Vernon-Jackson said.

“The death trap outside the Civic Offices was designed so that no one quite knew who had priority to try and keep everyone on their toes and aware, but I think it’s hugely dangerous.

“And I’ve seen so many buses sat pumping out fumes by the crossing at the station and this will help on both of those things.”

The project was welcomed by each of the three opposition spokesmen for transport who said pedestrian crossings needed to be improved.

Conservative councillor Simon Bosher said: “I’ve seen a number of schemes looking to address this area over all the years I’ve been here but this seems to be an improvement, particularly at that pinch point.

“It used to be two-way until it became this arrangement and it’s good to see some common sense to go back to where we were.

“We were looking to shut this roads off to traffic other than buses and taxis and I don’t think that would have been the right decision so it’s good that we’ve seen some sense on that.”

Construction work is due to begin in January and is expected to be completed by April.