Charges to drive on Bath’s busiest roads at peak times are “inevitable”, according to an expert group.
Robin Kerr, who leads the Bath Alliance for Transport and Public Realm, said the city’s new clean air zone will do little to tackle traffic but the cameras could serve a dual purpose – which would see some motorists charged twice.
In a wide-ranging interview, the former Federation of Bath Residents’ Associations chair spoke out on low traffic neighbourhoods, damage to Cleveland Bridge and why the city needs a monorail.
“Bath has had a huge transport problem for decades. It’s a huge concern for residents and businesses,” said Mr Kerr, an engineer.
“It’s all very well talking about the problem – you have to do something.
“It’s no good if policies keep flip-flopping every four years. What we want is consistency.”
Low traffic neighbourhoods
Bath and North East Somerset Council’s Liberal Democrat administration is championing LTNs as a way to reduce rat running in residential areas, but plans to change traffic flow are invariably controversial. Conservatives have claimed the scheme will make parts of Bath “unliveable”.
Mr Kerr said: “Low traffic neighbourhoods aren’t new. We’ve had one at Royal Crescent for a long time. For them to be widespread is controversial.
“It needs drive. It needs the council to be completely committed to it. Some places are obvious [sites for an LTN]. There’s one around the Circus that would be very easy, another is around St James’s Square.
“The council ought to do some experiments with LTNs. They need to do a couple of easy ones, one north of the river and one south, and then take stock.”
He said he could see why residents were keen to make Camden Road a low traffic neighbourhood but it would not be easy.
“People coming in from London Road need the opportunity to park their cars. Some accommodation is going to have to be found for a park and ride or traffic is going to get even worse.”
Congestion charging
Bath’s clean air zone launched on 15th March to tackle illegal levels of pollution in the city by charging non-compliant vehicles, but not private cars.
Mr Kerr said the scheme will not reduce congestion but its cameras could be used to impose a congestion charge to cut the number of vehicles on the road at peak times.
“You might say it’s terribly unfair – it’s inevitable,” he added.
The West of England Combined Authority has also looked into so-called road user charging.
It said in its joint local transport plan various measures were needed “to influence the demand of drivers on the transport network who have alternative ways to travel”.
The document said the management of parking provision, reallocation of road space to sustainable transport modes and workplace parking levies also needed to be considered.
Various residents have called for a congestion charge for Bath.
A 2018 parking study by B&NES Council congestion charges were outside its scope but added: “No single initiative can reduce congestion, improve air quality and manage the increasing demand on our road networks as the area grows.”
Mr Kerr said there is another driver for government – as drivers move to electric vehicles, it will lose out on the taxes paid on petrol and diesel and need to replace that income.
“It’s coming, whether we like it or not,” he said. “If Bath is going to be carbon neutral by 2030 I will have to have a car that doesn’t produce carbon emissions.
“The council could do it themselves as a mechanism for generating revenue.”
Reducing traffic
Mr Kerr said there are various other ways to cut congestion, like opening the city’s park and rides 24/7 and making them available for deliveries and other uses.
“Public transport is absolutely crucial,” he said.
“You need to get people out of their cars and onto buses or a monorail – you could put it along the river, it isn’t particularly beautiful.
“It’s not going to happen. There would be a lot of opposition, particularly from the World Heritage Site.
“We need roads that are dedicated to buses. The council and the West of England Combined Authority are the only organisation that can create a situation of fewer cars.
“You have to make buses so attractive and everything else so unattractive. In London the Tube is better than anything else. You make parking so difficult and buses so good, and a reasonable price.
“This isn’t rocket science.”
Cleveland Bridge
Work to repair the grade II*-listed bridge – which typically carries 17,000 vehicles a day – is expected to start in April and take around seven months to complete. It is set to close to traffic for 12 weeks, but pedestrians, cyclists and people on e-scooters will still be able to cross, as will emergency vehicles.
“The closure of Cleveland Bridge is going to have a terrible effect,” said Mr Kerr.
“We want to make sure that the lorries go away and don’t try to come right through Bath – it would be disastrous.”
He said the council should station volunteers at various sites along main roads to warn lorries early enough that they need to divert away from the city.
Once the repairs are completed, the temporary 18-tonne weight limit will be lifted.
Mr Kerr is among many calling for the restriction to be made permanent, saying: “I’d prefer that we didn’t repair Cleveland Bridge and kept the 18-tonne weight limit. None of this traffic [over 18 tonnes] is helpful to Bath – it’s not doing anything except destroy the bridge.
“We’re going through all this to repair the bridge to allow enormous lorries to come back.”
The council tried in 2012 to impose a permanent 18-tonne weight limit on Cleveland Bridge but government refused as it forms part of the primary road network, carrying the A36.
Founded five years ago, the 21 members of the alliance include both universities, local NHS leaders, FOBRA, the BID, Bath Preservation Trust, sports clubs and charities.
Stephen Sumner, Local Democracy Reporter