Following the recent meeting about transport issues in the East of Bath, Lib Dem Councillors in B&NES are renewing their call for the Conservative Bathampton Meadows Park and Ride plan to be dropped.
The Scrutiny Inquiry Day was intended to examine a wide range of integrated transport solutions for the East of Bath, but Councillors have said that one day was “woefully inadequate” to cover all the issues and options.
Councillor Alison Millar (Lib Dem, Bathavon North) will make a statement on the Inquiry Day to B&NES full Council meeting this evening.
Alison commented: “It is laudable that the Council appears open to alternative solutions and listening to the public, and I recognise that an enormous amount of work went into preparing the Scrutiny Inquiry Day.”
“However, the lack of opportunity for people to make statements, the minimal time allotted to questions and the fact that decision makers were not present for the whole day, all show that a single day was woefully inadequate to cover this critical and complex matter.”
“The Meadows Alliance gave us compelling evidence of the need to rethink and for the Council to reconsider its approach.
“The Cabinet needs to take more time to consider this important information presented and should allow the Alliance to present it at Cabinet or Council.”
Lib Dem Group Leader, Councillor Dine Romero (Southdown), commented: “The Inquiry Day proved that the transport issues are complex and the problems relating to traffic in the East of Bath are many – this point was also picked up by many of the public in their questions and, later in the day, in their statements.”
“One of the most encouraging outcomes from the Inquiry Day was the idea that a variety of part solutions, including small, linked park and rides and rail travel, could be combined to form a fully integrated transport solution.
“However it was also clear that these elements would need to be considered in more detail.”
“Local campaigners demonstrated that building on any one of the three sites from the Conservative administration’s consultation would cause great harm to the local environment and Bath’s World Heritage Setting, and would not actually solve any of the traffic problems.”
“Once again, we urge the Cabinet to reject all plans to build a Park and Ride on Bathampton Meadows.”
1 Comment
Phil Johnston
Thursday 31st March, 2016 at 09:03There’s no reason to dispute the statement made on Scrutiny Day that the B&NES Cabinet Member for Transport stated to Bath’s Eastern Parish Council’s that all information on sustainable transport options was known in advance. Why it was not being applied and unsustainable park and ride options were still being considered on March 22nd is therefore a crucial question. Without an answer to it there can be no pretence of democratic engagement.