Street set to close to finish city's 'ring of steel'

Bollards have now been installed on York Street, Cheap Street and Hot Bath Street

A street in Bath will be closed for the installation of the final set of sliding bollards to complete the city's "ring of steel" anti-terror zone.

The zone aims to limit vehicle access to the city centre from 10:00 until 18:00, in order to prevent attacks in busy tourist areas.

Work will start on Lower Borough Walls in mid to late May and will take about five months to finish.

Pedestrian and wheelchair access will be maintained throughout the works, but cyclists and permitted vehicles will be diverted via Hot Bath Street, where sliding bollards have already been installed.

Lower Borough Walls will be closed from its junction with Bilbury Lane, by Pigeon Park

All disabled parking bays on the street will be unavailable throughout the work period but the spaces on Beau Street will stay available.

Bath and North East Somerset Council said the scheme was being completed “within the earmarked budget” of £7.4m, however, that budget is more than triple the scheme’s original £2.2m cost, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Councillor Manda Rigby said: "The contractor is now moving onto the last leg of the scheme.

"It is great news that work will finish ahead of time on Upper Borough Walls and I am pleased to see the scheme is being delivered within the earmarked budget.

"As always, we will do all we can to keep disruption to a minimum."

Concerns

Sliding bollards were chosen to allow access to the city centre, as vaults and cellars under the street level made more traditional retractable bollards a problem.

But there have been concerns over the bollards failing to work.

On 23 December, ambulances were blocked from attending an incident in the city centre when one of the sliding bollards on Cheap Street failed to move.

Ambulance crews left their vehicles and proceeded on foot.

The council said it was investigating to ensure it did not happen again.