Following complaints from a number of residents about the 20mph limit in the Charlton Park area of Midsomer Norton, Bath and North East Somerset Council has agreed to rerun the consultation in selected roads. At present, this is being scheduled for May.
The problems stemmed from the fact that B&NES officers chose to include the Charlton Park area on the map for the Westfield consultation, rather than Midsomer Norton.
The roads concerned are Charlton Road, Charlton Park, Boundary Close, Grange End, The Timbers, Lynwood Close and Lyndhurst Road.
"Charlton Park is part of Midsomer Norton – so B&NES totally bungled the consultation from the start by including us on the map of Westfield. They then compounded their mistake by sending us the Midsomer Norton leaflet – therefore undermining the validity of their 20mph consultation.
"An admission that they got it wrong would be nice, but at least they are redoing the consultation," said Lynne Clement, resident of Charlton Park.
When B&NES announced that Midsomer Norton would not be included in the 20mph scheme, a number of people living in the Charlton Park area were very surprised when the 20mph signs started going up, especially as it was not listed on the schedule.
"Local opinion is finely balanced between being for and against a 20mph limit, so, therefore, as the Ward Councillors, we insisted to B&NES that the only fair outcome is to rerun the consultation in the Charlton Park area and allow residents to have their say," said Cllr Chris Watt, Conservative B&NES, Midsomer Norton Redfield.
In addition to the straight for and against debate, some residents believe that whilst there is a case for a 20mph limit in residential roads like Charlton Park, Charlton Road is a main road and should continue to have a 30mph limit. Anyone with views other than for or against will have the opportunity to enter them in the comments box on the consultation.
After so much debate, it will be interesting to see what local residents taking part in the Charlton Park area consultation think.
A Spokesperson for B&NES Council confirmed this week: "It has been agreed to rerun the informal consultation specifically in relation to Charlton Park, Grange End, Boundary Close, Charlton Road, The Timbers, Lynhurst Road and Lynwood Close and consider and analyse the feedback.