Protestors go to the top in transport row

Monday, November 10, 2008

Campaigners fighting a proposed new park and ride on the outskirts of Bath have taken their protest to the seat of local Government in the city.

Hordes of opponents staged a protest on the steps of Bath's Guildhall this weekend in a bid to force a rethink on two key planks of the controversial Bath Transport Package.

The Save Bathampton Meadows group want Bath and North East Somerset Council to scrap plans for the new park and ride on the meadows. They were joined by members of the Response to Route group who are keen to stamp out plans for a rapid transit bus link through Newbridge.

The high-profile event followed the launch of a public exhibition detailing all aspects of the £58million scheme by the council, who hope to submit plans later this year for the project.

If granted, it would see a 1,400 space park and ride built on Bathampton Meadows, expansion of existing park and rides at Lansdown, Odd Down and Newbridge and a Bus Rapid Transit Route (BRT) between Brassmill Lane and the Western Riverside development.

Save Bathampton Meadows has submitted its own sustainable transport strategy and feedback from an online forum into the issue to the council. The document suggests better targeted and supervised bus routes and more reliable and cheaper public transport instead of park and rides. It also promotes congestion charging and restriction of movement of HGVs during peak time traffic.

The group's spokeswoman Alison Millar said: "We think park and rides are a completely outdated method of transport control. "We think the best thing to do is to try and get lorries out of Bath."

Engineer Mark Stephens has lived in Batheaston for 11 years and said B&NES Council's plans for a park and ride at the Meadows were 'pointless'. He said: "You can't surround Bath with car parks and the capacity of the park and ride at Bathampton Meadows will be outstripped before they have finished building it."

Parish councils accept the idea of an east-of-Bath park and ride but say B&NES should site the facility at Charmy Down, off the A46.

But former Happy Days star Gavan O'Herlihy who lives near Charmy Down, disagreed. Mr O'Herlihy supports plans to develop a park and ride at Bathampton Meadows and said it was time for the council to 'bite the bullet' and take action to deal with 'two mile tailbacks on London Road'.

B&NES Council argues that siting a park and ride at Bathampton will take cars off the roads and put people on public transport. It argues that if vehicles wishing to use a Park and Ride had to travel to Charmy Down, it would result in an estimated 1.4 million extra car miles travelled per year.

B&NES Council's transport and policy planning manager Peter Dawson said he was pleased with the turn-out at the exhibition, which attracted more than 1,200 people over three days.

Meanwhile David Redgewell, regional co-ordinator for The Campaign for Better Transport in the South West, pledged support for the rapid transit element of the scheme, which is going out to tender, with bids from First and Stagecoach likely. But he urged B&NES to strive towards a better design for the vehicle, so that it becomes more like a hybrid tram than just a bus. He said: "In principle we are extremely supportive of the BRT but B&NES needs to look to other European cities for its design as these vehicles can be highly efficient in moving large numbers of people and ordinary buses would not suit this sort of dedicated route. "It also needs to commit to converting existing bus lanes on the London Road into dedicated lanes for the BRT to ensure the vehicles are rapid and work out what the route will do in linking to Keynsham, Saltford, Whitchurch and Bristol."

Mr Redgewell said he sympathised with home-owners who stood to lose part of their gardens but, like London's Docklands depended on the light railway for its regeneration, so would the BRT be key to the regeneration of the Western Riverside.

Read this article on the Western Daily Press website.