One woman’s campaign to improve the air quality around her city home seems to be getting noticed in the right places.
Patsey Keen lives in a flat close to the Riverside Coach Park where many of our visiting tourists get off and on the coaches that bring them to the city.
While we’re pleased to see this healthy boost to the local economy, for the residents living near this central drop-off, it’s a mixed blessing.
She wrote to say:
“I wonder if you could look into the coaches in the Riverside Coach Park who in this hot weather have been running their engines constantly ALL DAY .
This is very concerning to me as a resident of Riverside Gardens. You can taste the pollution as soon as you turn into Riverside Gardens and Milk Street.
The noise is horrendous and of course the engines add to the heat.
The coach park is on the other side of the wall at the bottom of the street.
I’m sure the drivers would say they are keeping their coaches cool for their returning passengers but seriously !!! In this climate of tackling air pollution I thought this might be something of interest to you.
Coaches parked in the Riverside Coach Park. They were NOT running their engines.
I have contacted the council and had no reply from phone messages and only a “we will get back to you” on social media.
When l went to check out Patsy’s complaint the coach park was almost empty. The coaches that were parked there were not running their engines.
Patsy has done her own filming – during a much busy period – so you can judge for yourselves what she and other residents are having to put up with.
She writes:
“I just felt it was a shame that when you visited there were very few coaches in the coach park and also a reasonably cool day.
I hope this video clip from my home shows a picture of what we endure living here for a large part of the time. None of these coaches were moving or even getting ready to move.
Well Patsy, maybe someone at B&NES has also viewed your video because a Council spokesperson told Bath Newseum.
“We are looking into enforcement powers against drivers found idling as part of our commitment to address the air quality in Bath and North East Somerset.
In the meantime, civil enforcement officers will continue to patrol the coach park to advise the drivers about idling, ensuring they are in the correct bays and keeping to the 30-minute parking restriction.”
No doubt Patsy and her fellow residents will be waiting to see if this new ‘get tough’ action will have any effect.
Freelance Journalist, broadcaster, columnist and local historian. Director of Bath Newseum. Married and lives in Bath.
Interested in local history, architecture and visual display in museums and urban spaces.
View all posts by Richard Wyatt
4 Comments
I consider Bath my second home as I visit so often. These days I don’t travel by coach so often. In my experience, on the whole the coach drivers are pretty diligent in switching off their engines. A regular complaint when we are waiting for the latecomers is that the coach is too hot (and that’s because the engine is off while they are waiting and therefore so is the aircon).
By and large, coach trips pick up and drop off at Bog Island as it is too complicated to walk people to and from the coach park.
There used to be a coach park attendant on duty and it should not be too hard to enforce the no engine running rule as I suspect this is more for the drivers’ Comfort than the passengers.
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Such a shame it was a day with almost no coaches when you went to check this out Richard. I am in my flat right now listening to the constant roar of engines turning over. This isn’t a year round problem it seems to just be when the temperature raises or falls and the comfort of the passengers overide all else.
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Thank you for your support Richard , this has blighted our lives for sometime and I for one will welcome an improvement in the quality of our lives and oour health. It is quieter today so watch this speace.
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Just to let you know that Cllr Andy Furse (Kingsmead) has also been in touch with the relevant council officer and they are going to speak the team that manages the car park. As long as this hot weather continues, they need to be particularly diligent.
Cllr Sue Craig (Kingsmead)
I consider Bath my second home as I visit so often. These days I don’t travel by coach so often. In my experience, on the whole the coach drivers are pretty diligent in switching off their engines. A regular complaint when we are waiting for the latecomers is that the coach is too hot (and that’s because the engine is off while they are waiting and therefore so is the aircon).
By and large, coach trips pick up and drop off at Bog Island as it is too complicated to walk people to and from the coach park.
There used to be a coach park attendant on duty and it should not be too hard to enforce the no engine running rule as I suspect this is more for the drivers’ Comfort than the passengers.
Such a shame it was a day with almost no coaches when you went to check this out Richard. I am in my flat right now listening to the constant roar of engines turning over. This isn’t a year round problem it seems to just be when the temperature raises or falls and the comfort of the passengers overide all else.
Thank you for your support Richard , this has blighted our lives for sometime and I for one will welcome an improvement in the quality of our lives and oour health. It is quieter today so watch this speace.
Just to let you know that Cllr Andy Furse (Kingsmead) has also been in touch with the relevant council officer and they are going to speak the team that manages the car park. As long as this hot weather continues, they need to be particularly diligent.
Cllr Sue Craig (Kingsmead)