Bath council throws out bid to reopen city street

Wooden planters were installed on Southlands in Bath in 2022 as part of a "liveable neighbourhoods" trial.

A bid to reopen a residential city street to through traffic, has been thrown out by councillors.

Wooden planters were installed on Southlands in Bath in 2022 as part of a "liveable neighbourhoods" trial.

The scheme was made permanent in January - despite 57% of residents opposing it - and the decision was "called-in" by opposition councillors.

On Monday, the call-in was dismissed by Bath and North East Somerset Council's climate scrutiny panel.

The council's decision to close the street was to prevent so-called rat-running and make it "safe and pleasant" for walkers and cyclists, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

But local residents at the meeting said there had never been a rat-running problem to fix, and the scheme had exacerbated the street's parking problem on one side of the planters.

Labour opposition leader,Robin Moss, who led the call-in, said there was "not the public support" for the closure.

"There are more people against this scheme than in favour," he said.

But councillors on the committee voted 6-1 to dismiss the call-in, arguing that a lack of engagement meant people were presumed to be "broadly happy" with the scheme.

People opposed to the liveable neighbourhoods scheme protested outside Bath's Guildhall, on Monday

Around 60 people opposed to the liveable neighbourhoods scheme protested outside Bath's Guildhall, on Monday.

Norma Barrett, who lives on Southlands, said: "They talk about liveable neighbourhoods, but actually what this has done is divide the neighbourhood."

Manda Rigby, the council cabinet member for transport, said she had read all the responses people had made but had to base her decision on traffic and air quality monitoring data.

"The reasons people gave for opposing the scheme, such as fears of displacing traffic and worsened air pollution are not backed by the evidence recorded," she said,

"I am genuinely genuinely saddened that the community has felt split in this way. That absolutely was not the intention."

Two further liveable neighbourhood trials, which were run at the same time on Queen Charlton Lane by Whitchurch and Church Road in Widcombe, are also set to be made permanent.

Both schemes enjoyed majority support from locals and neither has been called-in.