Row as ring road route revealed

The route will provide a quick link to Bristol International Airport

Plans have been revealed for a £140m ring road through south Bristol.

The nine-mile dual carriageway will run from Hicks Gate on the A4 east of the city to the west linking up with the Long Ashton bypass.

Anti-road campaigners have already said it will ruin the surrounding greenbelt land and cut communities in half.

"It'll bring noise, pollution, severence of communities and disturbance," said Mike Birkin of Friends of the Earth.

'New homes'

Business leaders estimate the city will need 100,000 new homes over the next 20 to 25 years as 250,000 people move to Bristol to live and work.

"When you think about all these people looking to live here and the commerce and housing that entails, you've really got to do some planning," said John Savage of Business West.

From Hicks Gate on the A4 east of Bristol - the proposed route heads along the edge of Stockwood and Whitchurch.

It will run across the slopes of East Dundry before linking up with the roundabout at the old Wills factory.

It then cuts through Hartcliffe and Bishopsworth, using land set aside for road building before heading into the open again and joining the the A38 and the Long Ashton bypass.

The new route is also seen as a potential quick link to the region's fastest growing business - Bristol International Airport.