'Shameful' closure of road near one of Bath's crescents

Bath and North East Somerset Council cabinet member Joel Hirst said that the objections the council had received “overstate the potential harm from the scheme.”

However, the council also acknowledged there were “areas of concern,” such as traffic doubling on a road past a primary school since the liveable neighbourhood scheme was introduced.

The Heart of Lansdown Conservation Group, which campaigned against the liveable neighbourhood (also known as a low traffic neighbourhood or LTN), said: “This is such a shameful decision that we’ll now look at further options to reverse it.”

Winifred’s Lane, the steep narrow lane at the top of Cavendish Road in Bath, has been closed to through traffic on a trial basis since November 2024. Together with the changes to Gay Street and the through-traffic restriction on Catharine Place, it forms part of the “Lower Lansdown and Circus Liveable Neighbourhood” scheme.”

The council said: “By restricting through traffic at these three locations, the aim is to support the local neighbourhood, enable more local trips by active travel (walking, wheeling, cycling), and address excessive traffic on residential roads often used as shortcuts to and from the A46/M4 north of the city.”

But 84% of people who responded to a public consultation, including 72% of those who live in the trial area, were opposed to Winfred’s Lane staying closed.

On January 30, Mr Hirst and fellow council cabinet member Manda Rigby approved the cabinet member decision to make the scheme permanent.

Mr Hirst said: “The consultation is interesting. There is clearly a gap between perception and what was evidenced by data, and inputs from objectors seem to overstate the potential harm from the scheme.”

He added: “Significant traffic interventions are controversial, and we expect to hear some strong opinions, especially from those who oppose them. We hear the strong sentiment, but there is clear evidence that this [liveable neighbourhood] has met its objectives. This is why evidence and public feedback needs to be considered together.”

The council’s data found that Cavendish Road, Lansdown Crescent, and some nearby roads had seen reductions in traffic, while Julian Road and Morford Street saw an increase “within normal variances for the road network.” However, traffic on the lower part of Sion Road had roughly doubled.

Before the trial Sion Road carried around 1,022 vehicles per day, but during the trial it saw on average another 887 to 1,174 a day. “Poor driver behaviour” was also noted by the council. The council said it would make “mitigations” on the road.

The Heart of Lansdown Conservation Group had warned, ahead of the trial, that closing Winifred’s Lane would push more traffic up this road, where there is an entrance to a private primary school. After the trial began, the group filmed cars mounting the pavement on Sion Road outside the school gates as cars headed northbound up the winding road. The group criticised the decision to make the liveable neighbourhood permanent.

A spokesperson for the Heart of Lansdown Conservation Group said: “This decision will put at risk pedestrians, schoolchildren and cyclists. Again and again over the last 18 months we have made this point to B&NES and yet not been listened to.”

The group said: “This decision is against the wishes of the vast majority of hundreds of local residents living close to the lane — so much for democracy and what councillors have said to us in the past. It clearly contradicts the Liberal Democrat manifesto in so many ways. The element of trust has gone and no doubt will be remembered come the next local elections for B&NES next year.”

Ms Rigby said: “It is clear from the monitoring that there has been displacement onto Sion Road, but it’s also clear that the issues with congestion occur at school drop-off and pick-up. It’s good that the school has engaged with us, and we will support them to pursue schemes to encourage staff and families to use alternative modes of transport to get to school.

“Given the video evidence we have seen, we are very keen to see those mitigations in place to improve the visibility of drivers exiting the school onto Sion Road.” The council is proposing to introduce a revised parking scheme on Sion Road to improve visibility outside Kingswood Preparatory School, and to introduce places for vehicles to pass.