There is anger among residents of a Bristol suburb who claim that they are suffering 'gridlock' as a result of a multi-million-pound 'liveable neighbourhood trial'. Campaigners are arguing the trial has caused emergency vehicles to get stuck, caused accessibility issues for disabled residents and harmed local businesses in East Bristol.

Residents claim that the trial has brought traffic to a standstill at busy times, created unsafe roads and increased pollution. Councillors have debated the project but there are so far no plans to scrap it.

Over 5000 people have signed a petition urging Bristol City Council to halt the 'liveable neighbourhood' trial that represents an investment of some £6m. It is taking place in the St George, Redfield and Barton Hill areas of the city.

It aims to promote active travel and has involved some road closures. Known as a Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) project, it involves adding bus lanes, cycle gates and other means of promoting sustainable travel.

However, some protesters claim the trial has caused issues for emergency vehicles. Resident Ben Staples, 32, said: "There's multiple incidents where police, fire and ambulances are all just stuck in traffic because all of the traffic has been forced onto roads that can't cope with that level of traffic which means people can't pass. They physically cannot move out of the way for these vehicles."

There are also fears for the scheme could impact disabled people. Redfield resident and wheelchair user Melissa Topping, 51, says the scheme has caused her serious issues: "They are blocking off my disabled vehicle access completely.

"They are leaving only side streets to access my street and my vehicle is too large to go down those side streets. They have created a complete maze for all the disabled people to try to negotiate their way through to get to the doctors, sending people on major routes to get to the doctors which is within their neighbourhood.

"This is affecting so many disabled and elderly in so many different ways. My stairlift engineer as said he won't be able to get to me down via Byron Street.

"My mobility scooter recovery won't be able to get me home should I break down and my vehicle recovery as got no hope because that is a [ten tonne] vehicle - all of those services are now gone."

Barton Hill businessowner Deniece Dixon, 47, says the trial is hurting her cafe's bottom line. Ms Dixon, who owns Café Conscious, said the increased traffic has harmed footfall: "This place here on a Friday prime time every single seat would have been taken up. We rely on passing trade, on builders. None of them have come in since the road closures.

"We have been here over [ten] years and it has never been like this. The people here are volunteers. There's a lot of taxi and Uber drivers around here and what they are saying is because traffic is that bad it is not even worth them going out anymore."

On Tuesday, December 10, Bristol City Council debated halting the scheme. Green Party councillor Ed Plowden said: "The project has delivered five separate letters to every single domestic and commercial address in the area and a total of 31,000 letters. We are every day monitoring the traffic and adjusting the signals as best we can.

"But if we do nothing we will be simply overrun with congestion. This trial contains one of our poorest neighbourhoods with the lowest rate of car ownership.

"We know these sorts of schemes have been controversial up and down the country - we knew that before we started and despite that the Green and Labour parties supported this scheme in May's elections. And we remained resolute to stand by that pledge. To keep listening but also to act on evidence not emotion both here and in south Bristol."

You can view the petition online.