New Liveable Neighbourhood trials

More traffic calming measures are in the offing. Plans for five new Liveable Neighbourhood interventions in three Bath areas are set to go ahead from spring 2024. 

Three through-traffic restriction trials in the Lower Lansdown and Circus area, along with trials in Sydney Road and Lyme Road (Newbridge) have all been approved to be installed under Experimental Traffic Orders  from spring 2024. 

The decisions to proceed were taken by Councillor Manda Rigby, cabinet Member for Transport and Councillor David Wood, deputy council leader and cabinet Member for Council Priorities & Delivery and are subject to a five-day ‘call-in’ period. If the decision is not called in within that period, the council will start the process for installing the trials under Experimental Traffic Regulation Orders (ETROs) from spring 2024. 

The trial interventions are part of the council’s Liveable Neighbourhood Programme and the outcome of significant engagement with the community, including ward councillors and residents’ associations, since 2021. The aim is to address excessive traffic in residential areas, and to create safer, healthier routes for those that choose to walk or cycle. Vehicle access to homes and businesses would be maintained under the schemes. 

ETROs are installed for a minimum of six months and a maximum of 18 months while residents’ views are sought. The council would also monitor any impacts on traffic, air quality and active travel. No permanent decisions are made until all the consultation feedback and the monitoring data is considered. 

Details of the trials are summarised below:

Three linked trials in the Lower Lansdown and Circus area aim to address excessive though traffic on residential roads commonly used as shortcuts to and from the A46/M4:

• A through-traffic restriction on Catharine Place between its junction with Margaret’s Buildings and Rivers Street Mews.

• A through-traffic restriction on Winifred’s Lane (south of its junction with Somerset Lane), supplemented by a no-right-turn onto Sion Hill from the northern end of Cavendish Road.

• A no-entry for motorised vehicles into Gay Street from the George Street junction; and a left-turn only into George Street from this section of Gay Street to prevent southbound vehicles from travelling straight on to Queen Square. Gay street would remain two-way with access from the Circus or via the left-only turn into George Street.

In Sydney Road, a through-traffic restriction at its junction with New Sydney Place would be trialled to prevent motorists from using the street to avoid the A36/Bathwick Street junction. Additionally, the scheme would feature the removal of the dedicated left-turn lane into Sydney Road from Warminster Road (southbound) to discourage traffic from taking this short-cut.

Finally, a formal one-way loop would be created from Newbridge Road along Charmouth Road, Lyme Road and Lyme Gardens (Newbridge), while access for cyclists would be maintained in both directions. The aim is to relieve congestion at school times while encouraging more active travel to and from Newbridge School. 

More information on these proposals and the decision is available on the council’s website here.

Councillor Manda Rigby, Cabinet Member for Transport, said: “Since we announced the proposals in December, lots of residents have contacted us – with a very wide range of views. We’ve given very careful consideration to all the views put forward and I have decided to proceed with the ETROs in trials at Charmouth Road, Lyme Road and Lyme Gardens and the three ETROs in the, Lower Lansdown and Circus area. Some of those not in favour of the plans have expressed concerns about traffic displacement, and this will be very closely monitored to see if in reality these concerns are justified and then either further mitigations will be put in place or the trial would not be made permanent.

“We are committed to delivering our Liveable Neighbourhood programme because we want to create more equitable streets where everyone is safe, regardless of whether they drive, walk or cycle. But we want to base our final decisions on evidence, and ETRO trials let us do this. We will not reach a final decision on whether to make them permanent until consultation feedback and all supporting evidence – such as traffic monitoring data – is considered.”

Councillor David Wood, deputy council leader and cabinet Member for Council Priorities & Delivery, said: “I have considered carefully the comments we received on the Sydney Road proposal and have decided to proceed with this trial scheme which will be closely monitored.”

Councillor Joel Hirst, cabinet project lead for Liveable Neighbourhoods and Residential Parking Zones, adds: “We will continue to run a period of informal engagement until the trials are installed to ensure we adequately address concerns and help people plan for the trialled changes. 

“We will inform those living in and around the trials of the decision by letter and organise events where residents can speak with advisors before the trial is installed. We will also contact again key stakeholders, such as schools, businesses, and other organisations.

“We expect the trials to be installed later in the spring. Once we install the trials, a public consultation survey will be available online and in other formats. Within the next month, dedicated web pages will be prepared for the trials at www.bathnes.gov.uk/liveableneighbourhoods, and regularly updated.”

The council has secured £736,000 of funding from the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority (MCA) to implement the trials ahead of delivering the wider Liveable Neighbourhoods programme, the purpose of which is to develop a range of measures to improve streets.

View the decision notices and summaries of the trials

Meanwhile, opposition councillors have laid a cross-party challenge to the Council’s decision to make the Southlands ‘Liveable Neighbourhood’ traffic order (in Weston, Bath) permanent. 

They say the first three Liveable Neighbourhood trials in Bath have attracted controversy, with this one, in particular, attracting significant local opposition – 71% of consultation respondents were against it.  The councillors’ challenge (called a ‘call-in’) is on four grounds and states:

“While we support the urgent need to reduce pollution and tackle the climate and ecological emergencies, the manner of this specific intervention is fundamentally flawed:

1.     We note that the two other ETRO [Experimental Traffic Regulation Order] trials had a majority of consultation respondents in support, which is why we are not including those in this call-in

2.     The Council’s consultation found 71% of 322 respondents objected to, and only 26% supported, the trial ETRO

3.     Evidence to support the ETRO appears weak and the consultees felt strongly that it resulted in increased journey times, pollution and isolation, and had negative impact on residents’ wellbeing, explicitly the elderly, disabled and less wealthy.

4.     A significant number of respondents (37) proactively expressed concern about the consultation’s quality

5.     During a time of unprecedented pressure on local government budgets and a cost of living crisis, spending £13.7k of tax-payers money on an unwanted and controversial intervention is not a wise use of public money, when directly improving public well-being should be among the administration’s top priorities.”

Opposition Leader, Labour’s Cllr Moss said, “Labour wholeheartedly supports the principle of reducing pollution to save our planet. But when almost three-quarters of local respondents say they’re against it, it can’t be seen as a good use of £13,700 of public money, which could be better used to help people struggling with the cost of living.“

Independent Group Spokesperson Cllr Shaun Hughes (Midsomer Norton North) said: “These decisions are supposed to be evidence based and go through a worthwhile public consultation, the Council needs to listen to locally affected residents prior to making these decisions that affect people’s quality of life.”

Cllr Tim Warren (Midsomer Norton Redfield), Leader of the Conservatives, said, “Without evidence that this scheme would improve the lives of residents, actually the total opposite is more likely to be the case, we felt it should not be imposed upon residents when 71% of respondents opposed it.”

The BNES Constitution^[1] states that once the call-in has been made to the Chief Executive and is accepted as valid, there must be consultation with the Overview and Scrutiny Chairs before it is passed to the relevant scrutiny Panel. That Panel must then review the call-in within 14 days of the call-in notice being verified.