Bath and North East Somerset Council have removed all bus gate restrictions on Dorchester Street and have said that motorists can once again use the road as normal.
The news comes after the Council confirmed last week that they will be refunding thousands of fines given to motorists who have driven through the controversial bus gate.
The leader of the Council, Paul Crossley, had said that signs put in place to warn drivers of the new restrictions on Dorchester Street weren’t clear enough.
The decision came following a huge public backlash against the bus gate, including a public petition which received over 3,000 signatures and a Facebook Group calling for the fines to be cancelled quickly gaining over 4,000 followers.
Conservative councillors today called upon the Council’s Liberal Democrat administration to provide greater clarity over the future of the scheme.
The Council has agreed to refund all the fines issued during its trial run between January and April, something which it is thought will cost the Council in excess of £270,000.
Conservative councillors, who campaigned against the bus gate’s introduction, have slated the Council’s ruling Liberal Democrats for wasting such large sums of taxpayers’ money on the ill-fated scheme.
Conservatives have tabled a series of questions for answer at the B&NES Cabinet Meeting on Wednesday 14th May seeking clarity on whether the Council still intends on reintroducing the bus gate at a later date.
Conservative Shadow Transport Spokesman Cllr Anthony Clarke said: “This whole fiasco has caused immeasurable damage to Bath’s reputation and will cost the Council thousands of pounds in taxpayers’ money to put right.
“Despite the rather bizarre claims by the Council’s Lib Dem leadership that the Bus Gate trial was a success, it was clearly an abject failure.
“With so many cars still driving along Dorchester Street, it simply won’t be possible to judge what the impact would be on traffic on other routes.
“What we now need is greater clarity from B&NES over what the future holds for this Bus Gate. This is why we are pressing the Council’s Cabinet to clarify whether it still plans on reintroducing the Bus Gate at some point in the future and if so under what circumstances.
“It would clearly be madness for it to be in place during the planned road works on Rossiter Road, but at this point we simply don’t know what the Council is planning longer-term.
“The last thing we need in Bath are more piecemeal traffic schemes and road closures.”
In a statement on the Council website, a spokesperson said: “Bath and North East Somerset can confirm that following the completion of this trial scheme, that this traffic restriction has been removed. Therefore, Dorchester Street can be used as normal.
“Please note there is no need for you to contact the Council directly, you will automatically receive a refund if appropriate.
“Anybody who has already paid by card will have their payment refunded directly back onto their card, and we are currently working on issuing refunds for payments made by cheque or cash.
“We are not yet able to provide any further details on timescales; however we are continuing to develop the required processes due to the large number of transactions involved and need to ensure that all refunds are made to the appropriate individuals.
