Late afternoon – while l was doing a Zoom interview with the Leader and Deputy Leader of B&NES – some of the ‘good’ people of Larkhall were ‘taking back control’ of their ‘high’ street.
All this community action followed the appearance of temporary safety barriers installed – said the council – to enable people to maintain distance as the lockdown begins to relax.
The counter-argument coming from some in this community was that it was hitting local trade and people had been happy to self-distance from each other without the need for the new street furniture.
We will have to wait to see who wins this one but l offer up the interview as it was conducted earlier in the day..
We talked about the temporary safety measures, recovering business, damaged tourism, slave trade connections, re-naming Great Pulteney Street and naming a new bridge.
For your information:
To help pedestrians to safely social distance, pavements will be widened in:
- Camden Road
- St Saviours Road
- Manvers Street
- Monmouth Place
- Monmouth Street
- Moorland Road
- North Parade
- Queen Square
- Somerset Street
- Terrace Walk
- Walcot Street,
- Westgate Buildings
- Weston High Street.
Phase two will include
- Keynsham
- Peasedown St John
- Midsomer Norton
- Radstock
These locations have been selected because there is a likelihood that people will step into the road as a result of the two-metre social distancing rule or a need to improve segregation between pedestrians and busy roads.
The pavement widening began on Monday 8 June and will be completed in time for the relaxing of government restrictions on Monday 15 June, which allows non-essential retail shops to reopen.
Temporary barriers have been placed along the roads to separate the pedestrian area from traffic, and tarmac ramps will be provided to ensure that people using pushchairs and wheelchairs will be able to get to and from the shops. In some locations, to create the space, the use of parking bays will be suspended.
From Monday 15th June the council will also be closing the following streets to all motor vehicles from 10am-6pm daily, as well as removing parking bays.
- Cheap Street
- Westgate Street
- Saw Close
- Upper Borough Walls
- York Street
The parking bays in these streets will be available to use outside of the 10am – 6pm access restriction.
We have chosen these streets as widening the pavements would provide insufficient space for traffic to move safely when people are queueing outside shops. A similar restriction will be introduced in Milsom Street between 10am and 6pm although buses will still be allowed to pass through. However, barriers will block access to parking spaces in Milsom Street apart from an additional loading bay which will be available for use from 6pm to 10am.
Exemptions to these closures will be limited to emergency services and emergency utility works as well as a very limited number of other operations. The restrictions will be removed between the hours of 6pm and 10am.
All these measures will be in place for the duration of government advice, which all councils have been directed to follow to support the recovery from Covid 19.
For further information on the temporary measures, including Frequently Asked Questions, please visit our website www.bathnes.gov.uk/bathsocialdistancing
When, some years ago, I was helping out with the campaign to save the ‘looped’ 6/7 bus route (since axed by a] the termination of the council’s £40,000 a year subsidy and b] Last Bus’s cost-cutting) I was told by a Bath councillor that the likely adverse impact on Larkhall shops – and on Fairfield and Camden residents who used them – was of no great concern because “people can easily get buses into the centre” … You know, the centre, where the tourists and students go for their ice creams, fast-food, cheap booze and overpriced scented candles. So much for the suburbs!
Now we’ve been advised by the government to avoid public transport, so getting to Larkhall – and back up the hills – for people in Fairfield and Camden means walking, cycling or driving. It might come as an unwelcome surprise to Bath councillors that the first two are not realistic options for many older residents, so taking out the Larkhall parking bays – without the slightest evidence in the past 11 weeks pointing to a physical distancing problem – will help to take out Larkhall and its valued stores.
Need to mail a parcel or buy stamps? No problem; there’s always that joke Post Office in WH Smiths.