In a move that many expected was coming, following a turbulent political week for the Local Authority, B&NES Council has announced that, subject to a Cabinet agreement on 19th July, the East of Bath Park and Ride will not go ahead on either sites B or F (west and east of Mill Lane). Last week, The Journal reported on the resignations of four senior members within the Council Cabinet, with a new member for Transport and Highways being appointed, amongst others. The Council says it is now setting out a new approach to address the issues of traffic and transport in the city and the launch of an integrated transport plan.

Some of the measures set out by the Council include:

• Working with Highways England to deliver an A36-A46 link road to reduce through-traffic in Bath;

• Holding discussions with the West of England and South Glos Council about improving the route to and from Lansdown Park and Ride, particularly at the junction of Freezing Hill Lane and the A420, to make Lansdown a more convenient option for those travelling from the M4/A46 and enable potential future expansion;

• Improving access to Odd Down Park and Ride by repositioning the bus lane and opening it up to cars accessing the Park and Ride, again enabling potential greater use of this existing site in future years;

• Holding further discussions with Wiltshire about potential opportunities further out from the city, potentially linked to an extended MetroWest rail service;

• Undertaking a scoping study for a light rail (tram) system in Bath and whether this could open up future opportunities to remove vehicles from the city;

• Undertaking a study of ‘School Run’ transport needs and solutions and consider any further opportunities to expand the Council’s existing ‘safe routes to school’ programme.

Park and Ride to the east of Bath

The Cabinet will consider the report proposing not to progress with site B or F, based primarily on road safety grounds, on Wednesday, 19th July.

The national standard for road designs, the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges, desires a distance of 1km between junctions to allow traffic to move into the correct lane and avoid side-swipe collisions. The distance from the junction to site B is 258m and the distance from the junction to site F is 576m.

At the time of approving the recommendations to progress either site B or F in January 2017, officers believed that it would be possible to achieve an acceptable junction design as specified in the technical standards. Having undertaken further design work, officers consider that access into site B cannot be safely achieved, due to the close proximity of the proposed access to the junction of the A46/A4. In addition, negotiations with the landowner’s agent over a reasonable period have failed to reach a suitable agreement for the land purchase required for Site B.

In relation to site F, changes to the design standards mean that the Council cannot assume that access to site F would be safe on the basis that this site was granted planning consent in 2009. Whilst site F provides a greater opportunity to design an acceptable access than site B, it is not considered appropriate to invest further expenditure on the design of an access road without the certainty it will meet the necessary criteria and be supported by Highways England.

Leader of the Council, Councillor Tim Warren (Conservative, Mendip) said: “It’s no secret that the eastern Park and Ride has long been a challenging issue for the city, with strong views on both sides of the debate. However, after talking with engineers, visiting the locations again and discussing options with our partners, we must consider the wider picture, take the broadest view of new opportunities and ultimately put the safety of road users first.

“At the same time, we also recognise the high value which the local community places on site F, in particular, as an open space, and this site was the least favoured of the three sites that were put forward in the public consultation two years ago.

“In light of the issues with site access, and taking into consideration all the various factors with these two sites, it is therefore recommended that the Council should not proceed with either of these sites and we should instead commit all our efforts to pursuing the other traffic and transport measures we have set out, thereby ensuring we can make a real difference to addressing this issue in the years ahead.”

Councillor Mark Shelford (Conservative, Lyncombe), Cabinet Member for Transport and Highways, said: “No single transport initiative in isolation has the power to transform our travel choices, cut congestion, improve air quality or ease parking issues. That is why we asked officers to review all of the potential transport initiatives, as well as new opportunities from trams to the possibility of increasing the frequency of rail services to the east.

“One of the game changers is the formation of the West of England Combined Authority (WECA). Over the next thirty years, £1bn of investment from central government and other sources will be made available to support the economic growth of our region. This level of investment unlocks opportunities at a scale not seen before, and we need to factor this into our long-term planning.”