Bath & North East Somerset Council has announced that the through-traffic restriction trial on Sydney Road in Bathwick will be made permanent, despite the majority of respondents objecting.
Looking down Sydney Place, with the LTN restriction in place
The decision also comes after the local authority received a legal letter last week warning that the proposals are flawed.
It follows a formal Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) consultation that was held in July alongside a detailed review of the most recent traffic and air quality data.
The restriction, implemented in April 2024 under an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO), consists of a row of bollards at the junction of Sydney Road and New Sydney Place.
It was introduced as part of the council’s Liveable Neighbourhoods (LN) programme that aims to reduce traffic in residential areas and create safer, quieter routes for walking and cycling.
Following six months of monitoring and community feedback, the council said it had decided to make a permanent TRO, replacing the ETRO, and that it will become operative on 1st October.
The council received 315 responses via the official public consultation and eight responses by email.
It also received 682 responses in a letter from United Sydney Unliveable Neighbourhoods Group (UNSUNG) against the proposals.
The council said 60% of respondents (190 out of 315) opposed the proposal, and 40% (124 out of 315) supported it.
In a statement yesterday, Councillor Joel Hirst, cabinet member for sustainable transport strategy, said: “I want to thank everyone who has taken part in the many consultations on this scheme.
“For anyone who wants to find the full consultation outcomes and monitoring data, you can find it on our website.”
Last Friday a lawyer for UNSUNG wrote to the council to say the proposals to make the LN scheme permanent are flawed.
In March a B&NES Council scrutiny panel upheld the decision taken the previous month by Councillor Mark Elliott, the Liberal Democrat cabinet member for resources, that the scheme could be made permanent.
UNSUNG claimed in the summer that due to a “botched” legal implementation of the trial, the council was having to prepare a permanent Traffic TRO and repeat the consultation it did during the ETRO trial.
The campaigners said the council had published an inadequate ‘Statement of Reasons’ to justify the scheme.
The Echo has seen a copy of the letter sent to the council last week on behalf of UNSUNG by Rhiannon Cambrook-Woods, of Carbon Law Partners.
She highlighted “errors” in the drafting of TRO 25-012 which she said prevent making permanent the works conducted under ETRO 23-031: “As a result, by law, the works implemented under 23-031 must be removed at the end of the statutory 18-month limit.”
She said the TRO draft which had been subject to statutory consultation introduced “minor signage changes” to Sydney Road; however, by not mentioning the previous works conducted under 23-031, no permanence was given to those works, which expire imminently at the end of the 18-month trial’s period.
She also said the restrictive nature of the 25-012 drafting meant that consultation with public transport providers was omitted as the additional works did not impact on a bus route.
“Therefore, if B&NES are to seek to make the ETRO works permanent, the TRO would need to be substantially amended to include the previous works, and subject to a new round of consultation, not only with the public, but with all affected statutory bodies.
“However, as the ETRO will have lapsed and must be removed by the time such renewed consultation can occur, this option is moot.”
Secondly, the solicitor said that no decision on the permanence of the TRO could occur prior to the Lyncombe and Widcombe by-election on 9th October.
“Despite B&NES claims that the decision to make the ETRO permanent was not key, it is clear from current and previous consultations that the ETRO did affect more than one ward, and that this stance was both incorrect and unlawful.
“UNSUNG’s recent group objection attracted a significant number of Lyncombe and Widcombe residents adversely affected by the ETRO, so the future of the LTN [low traffic neighbourhood] is a consideration in the by-election which should prevent any decisions being taken in the purdah period.”
In response to the letter Councillor Hirst told the Echo earlier this week: “The council is considering the letter and in the interim will continue to follow the normal processes with respect to Traffic Regulation Orders.”
