A PEASEDOWN St John councillor has said the Bath Half-Marathon should never again be held on ‘such a significant day’ as Mothering Sunday after he spent two hours stuck in traffic.

More than 12,500 runners took part in the annual half-marathon around the city on March 15, which this year was ‘Mother’s Day’.

Cllr Gavin Heathcote told Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES) councillors at a meeting a few days after the race: “Being aware that the Bath Half-Marathon was taking place that weekend, I made a conscious decision to avoid the city centre and London Road, anticipating inevitable closures.

“Instead, I attempted to travel via Toghill and past Bath Racecourse, only to discover that the racecourse had been designated as a parking facility for the marathon.

“Traffic was extremely congested and once I had navigated this, I continued toward Newbridge, only to find that every route was closed.

“I needed to cross the river in order to get home, yet this proved exceptionally difficult.”

The Bath Half route took runners out of the city along the Upper Bristol Road and Newbridge Road and back along the Lower Bristol Road and then to Great Pulteney Street before completing a second lap.

The start and finish were located in Royal Victoria Park.

Cllr Heathcote said: “Roads were closed in all directions with no clear diversions in place.

“Traffic management appeared to be overseen by individuals with walkie talkies who had little to no understanding of how motorists could realistically navigate the closures.

“It is difficult to comprehend how a decision was made to effectively shut down the city centre of Bath in its entirety without adequate diversion routes or effective traffic management on such a significant day in the calendar.

“As a result, hundreds of people were left stranded attempting to find a way to cross the river to visit parents.”

The race committee had announced road closures in advance, and the event organisers published a leaflet of the various closures and the diversion routes.

But, Cllr Heathcote said he ended up helping people navigate the diversion out to the A36, past King Edwards School and onto the Wellsway.

He said one woman he helped, who was attempting to visit her parents, later emailed him to say ‘thank you’.

Cllr Heathcote said: “I wish to be clear, this is not an attack on the Bath Half-Marathon itself.

“I fully recognise the importance of the event and the value it brings to many people.

“However, it raises very serious questions - why was this event permitted to take place on Mothering Sunday?”

Cllr Heathcote has been a councillor for Peasedown St John since 2023 and stood as an Independent for the constituency of Frome and East Somerset in the 2024 General Election.

Since April, 2025, he has been a member of the Independents for B&NES group which split from the rest of the Independent group on the authority.

Bath Half organisers, LME, have been approached for a comment.