Work on a controversial cycle lane in Bath has been suspended almost as soon as it began after the council admitted it did not respond to a campaign group’s formal objection.
The proposed infrastructure, connecting a cycle route from Weston to the city centre, would see a cycle lane run through Royal Victoria Park alongside the ring road on its western and southern side, and would operate in the opposite direction to the road.
In the opposite direction out of the city, cyclists would be expected to follow the single-lane road, which features multiple traffic-calming chicanes and has a 10mph speed limit.
However, as we reported a fortnight ago, local residents have strongly opposed the cycle lane proposal, on the grounds that the contraflow lane would either be unnecessary, or unsafe.
Active travel campaign group Walk Ride Bath filed a formal objection opposed to the to the Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) behind the construction of the cycle lane in 2024. The group argue that proposed additional lighting did not “satisfactorily mitigate” personal security issues associated with the proposed route travelling through a quiet park with “limited direct overlooking” and “constrained natural surveillance.”
Walk Ride Bath’s “Policy and Technical Guru” Adam Reynolds subsequently submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the council earlier this month asking for a council response to the TRO objections received.
Bath and North East Somerset Council subsequently responded and confirmed that “it was brought to the attention of officers that your objection document was not taken into consideration due to a technical and administrative oversight and therefore was not placed before the decision maker. We apologise for this oversight.
“Therefore, an officer delegated decision, has been taken to revoke the previous decision and formally review the missed objection together with all previous objections, thus allowing the decision maker to make a fresh decision. This provides a sound basis for rectifying the technical and administrative oversight whilst taking into account the public purse.
“It allows for the consideration of the missed objection together with all other previous objections submitted, whilst saving the time and costs of starting the process from the outset. If the decision remains to make the TRO, this option protects the timeline for implementation.”
In response to the council’s admission, Walk Ride Bath say they will continue to investigate how their original investigation was missed, and how the decision was made to pledge £2.35 million of funding towards a cycle lane proposal that had not been fully evaluated by the authorities.
“We want this funding to deliver a useful network, not a collection of improvements that fail to join up,” the group said in a statement. “We also want the council to show that the time residents and groups put into consultation has an effect on the decisions made.
“The council now has a chance to address the missed objection properly. We hope it also takes the opportunity to explain its original route choice and give the public a clear account of what the £2.35m is intended to achieve.”
The bike lane had been due to be completed by mid-March, but is likely to be pushed back several months, if it is still to be constructed at all. The new proposals would be the second revised model presented to residents and councillors, after the council first adjusted plans following a public consultation.
The revised proposal added pedestrian crossings, resurfaced the footpaths on both sides of the road, and introduced tulip-shaped wand kerbs separating the contraflow cycle lane from traffic compared to the originally-planned paint-only lane.
When the planned works were announced, council cabinet member Lucy Hodge said: “Cyclists currently share footpaths with pedestrians in parts of the park, which is not ideal for either. This is about creating safer, fairer access to the park, however people choose or need to travel and whatever their age or ability.
“We’re closing a gap in the cycling network by allowing people to travel through the park legally and safely in both directions for the first time. The new contraflow cycle lane provides a family-friendly route and moves cyclists away from busy pedestrian areas, improving links to the city centre.”
