Bath Council currently has 5 Liveable Neighbourhood consultations open for comment until 28 February, plus another 10 is various stages of development:
·OPEN FOR COMMENT
o Chelsea Road – to install crossing on side roads to make it pedestrian friendly
o Church Street & Prior Park Road: zebra and pedestrian crossings
o Entry Hill: widen footpaths, install traffic lights to reduce the number of cars using it for a rat run
o Southlands: make a temporary scheme permanent, add a Zebra crossing on Penn Hill Rd
o Whitchurch Village: further enhancements to the previous scheme
DESIGN AND FUNDING WORK IN PROGRESS:
Egerton Road and Cotswold Road area, London Road and Snow Hill area, Morris Lane and Bannerdown Road area, Mount Road, Oldfield Lane and the Avenues, Pulteney Estate area, Temple Cloud
TRIAL IN PROGRESS
Lower Lansdown and The Circus, Lyme Road and Charmouth Road area, New Sydney Place and Sydney Road
TRANSITION BATH PERSPECTIVE
We have mixed views about these proposals, and there is mixed evidence of their effectiveness. Generally, they significantly reduce traffic and encourage active travel in the locality but there is some displacement of traffic onto surrounding roads, so they typically don’t have a big impact on overall traffic congestion. It’s important that the schemes are well designed and this has not always been the case in B&NES.
The opposition to the Lower Lansdown Scheme, for example, is largely driven by parents driving their children to private schools which causes 25% of rush hour traffic in Bath. The scheme is designed to deter some of this traffic but may just be stirring up general opposition to all sustainable traffic schemes. These schemes and the lack of a strategy policy does nothing for example to address the issues of the thousands of staff driving short distances to work at the RUH or the University within Bath.
We would like to see a more cohesive comprehensive transport plan from the Council, integrating public transport, active travel schemes and incentives for car drivers to switch to more sustainable modes of transport, with perhaps a workplace parking levy to fund public transport, acting as a carrot and a stick.
If you have the time and know the localities please make a comment here: by 28 February.