The South Bristol Ring Road - worth the sacrifice?

For me, the proposal to extend the Avon Ring Road around south Bristol brings to a head many of the issues facing the city today.

Part of Bristol's appeal - especially to the south and east sides of the city - is the fact that it's surrounded by countryside.

Head just a few miles out of town, over the slopes of Dundry or past the edge of Warmley, and you're in the rolling terrain of rural West Country.

The more Bristol expands towards this land, either through the ring road, with the proposed new town at Ashton Vale or any of the other housing projects planned around the city, the more this unique atmosphere will be under threat.

And while traffic congestion throughout the city is undeniably a major issue, is a ring road to improve the business potential of south Bristol really the answer?

Rather than easing the traffic burden, it may simply invite more vehicles on to our already crowded roads.

Some would argue that the loss of our city's rural girdle would be another nail in its cultural coffin, following the commercialisation of the city centre, particularly in areas like Stokes Croft.

But would those people also deny south Bristol the right to social and economic regeneration, I wonder?

Perhaps they have to accept that the city is changing, largely for the better, and that sacrifices must be made in order for that to continue.

Having a ring road, say those pressing for the scheme, would bring new life to the area, encouraging business and cutting down on the traffic burden at the same time.

Better facilities, more employment and quicker transport would all follow, they say, and who can deny that the people in the more deprived areas of south Bristol deserve those things?

It is hard to argue against change through which so many people are set to benefit.

But the darker counter-argument is that the ring road is merely a mechanism to facilitate the money-making schemes of those with a vested interest in seeing Bristol develop.

So is the intensive development of Bristol, aimed at fulfilling its undoubted economic potential, worth the loss of those things which make it such a special place to live?