Bath park-and-ride 'risks' World Heritage City status

People opposed to the park-and-ride have called on the council to protect Bathampton Meadows east and west of Mill Lane

Plans to build a new park-and-ride scheme on meadows near Bath may damage the city's Unesco World Heritage City status, campaigners say.

Bath's Conservative-led council has proposed the scheme for Bathampton Meadows but more than 5,500 people have signed a petition against the plans.

The Bath Preservation Trust said the Unesco 2009 recommendation was to reinforce the protection of the site.

The plans are due to be discussed at a meeting of the council on 12 November.

Protesters formed a choir to voice their opposition to the proposed park-and-ride site at Bathampton Meadows

"It would be difficult to see how building a park-and-ride on the site would protect the setting," said Caroline Kay, chief executive of the trust.

Mrs Kay said the trust was "not anti-park-and-ride" but did not believe a new scheme to the east of the city would "provide sufficient benefit to justify the harm it would cause".

Olympian Amy Williams joined the choir to sing a version of Joni Mitchell's Big Yellow Taxi changing the words to: "They paved paradise to give us a park-and-ride."

Bath resident Amy Williams, who won gold in the skeleton at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, has joined the campaign.

She said there was "no need to spoil these beautiful meadows" and urged the council to think about better advertising for the existing park-and-ride sites.

Tim Warren, the leader of Bath and North East Somerset Council, said the plans were "a key part of the council's wider strategy to improve transport and tackle congestion in and around Bath".

"It is of course vital that it is delivered in a way which is sensitive to the local area," said Mr Warren.

A final decision on the scheme will be made by the cabinet at a later date.