Hundreds object to transport package

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Hundreds of people have lodged objections to a package of controversial plans to tackle congestion in Bath.

The deadline for public comments on the four planning applications which make up the Bath Transportation Package runs out tomorrow.

Already, battle lines have been drawn in the most contentious series of plans since the building of the Batheaston Bypass 15 years ago. Bath and North East Somerset Council is applying for permission from itself to expand park and ride sites and Newbridge, Lansdown and Odd Down, to build a new site at Bathampton, and to create a new rapid transit bus route across the city. It is aiming to table the schemes at a development control committee meeting in May, although it is possible that one or all of the applications may be called in by ministers for them to make the final decision after a public inquiry. The authority says the package - funded by around £50 million of Government money - is the answer to current and future congestion in the city.

But opponents are fighting co-ordinated campaigns against the Bus Rapid Transit route, the expansion of the Newbridge site and the creation of the new facilities at Bathampton Meadows.

Supporters of the Response2route pressure group - which says the bus scheme will be a white elephant which will destroy a wildlife corridor through Newbridge - are aiming to have submitted 1,000 objections by tomorrow.

Spokeswoman Jo McCarron said: "The addresses on the objection letters show that our community is united in stopping the proposal. We are pleased with the response and hope the council will take the views of the public seriously. "Response2route believes the social, visual and environmental impact and the major financial risks of the scheme have been inadequately assessed and understated in communication to councillors and the public.

"We will continue to fight the proposal because the BRT represents a serious planning error which will have severe long-term consequences on the quality of the living environment in Bath." Among the other groups opposed to the BRT is Bath Friends of the Earth, which describes the council's plans as "piecemeal". The group says the dedicated route along an old railway line in Newbridge would have little impact on congestion and it says the council seems to care more about losing Government money for the schemes than "what would be best for Bath." The environmental group gives only a lukewarm welcome to extra park and ride spaces, but it does back new bus lanes on key routes in and out of the city. The firm which owns car dealer Hartwells - which would lose land in Newbridge Road under a compulsory purchase scheme - has also objected to the BRT scheme.

The Bathampton Park and Ride scheme is being opposed by parish councils at Bathford, Bathampton and Batheaston, and by the London Road Residents' Association. The biggest group fighting the scheme is Save Bathampton Meadows.

Spokeswoman Alison Millar said: "It's clear from the large number and content of letters of objection received by the council to date that the proposed site is both hugely unpopular and inappropriate. There is growing indignation that BANES is ignoring public and expert opinion and pushing ahead with a scheme that is fundamentally flawed.

"Aside from the undeniable landscape, visual, community and ecological impacts, B&NES' transport study reveals that traffic levels on London Road will return to near-current levels in less than 10 years from the proposed site opening.

"As a solution to congestion, the proposal is woefully short-sighted and unsustainable." The Bath Preservation Trust is also objecting to the Bathampton scheme, saying it would damage the landscape setting of the city.

The Federation of Bath Residents' Associations - an umbrella body for groups representing 4,000 people across the city - broadly supports the entire package. It has however asked the council to provide more information about why alternatives sites for the Bathampton scheme and alternatives routes for the BRT were not chosen.

Hundreds of individuals have objected to the BRT scheme and the Bathampton project.

The council is unable to make any new public statements on its ideas now that the applications have been submitted.

But it has said in the past that traffic jams and pollution will worsen once the recession ends and Government projections on employment and housing growth come to fruition. It wants the new regime in operation by the year 2012 and says it has built the time needed for any public inquiry into its planning.