A leading Judicial Review solicitor has slammed Bath and North East Somerset Council after it staged an eleventh-hour U-turn in a case that has cost the taxpayer thousands.
The junction of Fairfield Avenue and Blenheim Gardens © Google
David Kirwan from Kirwans law firm criticised the council for its behaviour throughout the Judicial Review case, which involved the relocation of a 27-metre bus stop to the front of John and Michelle Castignetti’s Bath home.
The council allowed the case to progress quite considerably through the courts, before making the last-minute decision to back down.
Yesterday they were ordered to pay a considerable amount of the Castignetti’s costs as a result.
Mr Kirwan said: “This is a classic case of David v Goliath, in which Bath and North East Somerset Council, have behaved badly from beginning to end.
“The council also continued, through a pervasive failure to act sensibly, to drive this claim through lengthy and expensive proceedings to a hearing, both of which could have been avoided.
“Fortunately Kirwans has a lengthy history in championing the liberty of the man and woman in the street, and I’m pleased to say that, after incurring the taxpayer with considerable costs, the council realised their case was indefensible.”
The Castignetti’s fight for justice began in May this year after the decision was made to relocate the bus stop in front of their house with no real engagement or consultation with local residents.
The couple claimed that, if implemented, the bus stop would significantly increase the hazard to road users and pedestrians.
Plans to install the bus stop on the corner of Fairfield Avenue at the junction with Blenheim Avenue in Fairfield Park, which were due to take place as part of the Bath Transportation Package, followed a separate earlier proposal to modify the existing stop further up the road which was put out to consultation and rejected following residents’ objections.
Instead, a new location outside the Castignetti’s home was proposed for a bus stop that could have potentially included a shelter and a Real Time Information display board on the corner of Fairfield Avenue at the junction with Blenheim Avenue.
But both the Castignetti’s and other local residents complained that the bus stop up the road had been in place for nearly 20 years and that the council itself had acknowledged that it was safe with no incidents having occurred there.
John Castignetti, 49, a self-employed landscape gardener, said: “We’re so relieved that, after months of hell, this nightmare fight against the council is over.
“The council believed that they could just do what they wanted, regardless of the effect it would have on nearby residents such as ourselves. Although a number of local residents wrote in to complain about the safety risk that this proposal could pose, the council remained adamant that they would relocate the stop.
“But we were so angry that they made the decision without listening to our concerns and so worried about the safety of the local community that, on the advice of our solicitor David Kirwan, we knew we had to put up a fight.
“We decided to seek the advice of a leading road safety consultancy who agreed that the proposed alterations and relocation of the stop to outside our property would significantly increase the risk to road safety.”
David Kirwan, an expert in Judicial Review cases, explained: “This is a classic case of a council coming up with an unworkable idea but forging ahead with it anyway, despite the very real concerns of the residents it would affect.
“The siting of the proposed new stop was completely unsuitable, as it was obviously unsafe. Fairfield Avenue, which is a busy road for local and ‘cut-through’ traffic, is on a fairly steep gradient, and curves at one point quite sharply to the right. The proposed new stop was not only at the beginning of that curve, it was also immediately in front of the T-junction with Blenheim Avenue.
“Vehicles overtaking a stationary bus would have been doing so on a bend, and could have met a car or bike emerging from Blenheim Avenue or coming up Fairfield Avenue around the bend. Vehicles coming uphill could also have encountered passengers crossing the road behind the bus.
“On the basis that approximately 55 Route 6/7 buses use this route every weekday, between 6.30am and 11.45pm, then that hazard would have existed approximately five times an hour, 55 times a day, or several hundred times a week.
“I was genuinely concerned that, if implemented, the proposal would have significantly increased the hazard to road users and pedestrians.”
Bath and North East Somerset Council have released the following statement: “Buses simply cannot pull over to pick-up passengers because of parked cars and people have to step in between these vehicles to get on board whilst negotiating a steep gradient.
“As part of the Bath Transportation Package revamp of 420 bus stops, the Council planned to improve this one by increasing the space available for buses to pull over and be parallel with the new raised kerb to improve access for disabled people and parents with buggies and this involved moving the stop further down Fairfield Avenue. The Council’s proposals did not include a shelter or a Real Time Information Display.
“There was extensive consultation over a long period of time with local residents and ward councillors to settle upon the plan. Following the consultation, Mr. & Mrs Castignetti objected to the plan for a variety of reasons including on the basis that although they have a driveway unaffected by the bus stop, members of their family would be unable to park a vehicle immediately outside their property.
“The judicial review was initiated by Mr Castignetti over the Council’s decision to install the new bus stop which the judge gave leave for Mr. Castignetti to pursue. However the judge was clear that inadequate consultation was not a ground upon which he was granting leave.
“Given the extensive officer time and local taxpayer’s money required to contest the judicial review, we decided on 13 November 2013 to withdraw the decision and consider the next steps.”
In response to this statement, Mr Kirwan said: “I find it deplorable that Bath and North East Somerset Council should completely take out of context the comments made by the Judge. He gave leave to pursue the review on the grounds of safety and in fact said that he the council’s lack of risk assessment was wholly inadequate.
“In addition, it is misleading to imply that one of the main motives behind the Castignettis’ decision to embark upon the difficult process of taking on the might of the council was in relation to visitor parking.
“The Castignettis went to great trouble and expense to do what Bath and North East Somerset Council should have done by commissioning a report from leading road safety consultants TMS, who completely backed their argument that the council hadn’t taken the necessary steps to ensure public safety.
“The report noted that: “It is considered that there is very little risk associated with the existing bus stop” and that; “If improvements to the existing bus stop consisted of a standard footway build out with incorporated bus boarder kerbs, such a measure could be considered as a positive speed-reducing feature. This is a technique that has been used at numerous locations nationally as an accident reduction measure.”
