Local Green Party councillors in Bath have re-stated their opposition to a segregated cycle lane through a park in the city, arguing the additional lighting set to be installed is insufficient to prevent the route being “experienced as socially unsafe.”
Royal Victoria Park is one of the city’s largest public green spaces and includes a clockwise-looping, one-way ring road. As part of the Bath Walking, Wheeling and Cycling Links programme, which aims to better connect the surrounding area to the city centre’s infrastructure, a route is planned to join the Upper Weston suburbs to the city, seen in blue on the image below.
The Weston link includes a proposed cycle lane running 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.
The proposals were first put forward in December 2024 and would have initially closed vehicular access from the north west entry point. The local Green Party first stated their opposition to the proposals then, stating, “Royal Victoria Park is isolated and unlit. It is therefore not a safe route for many, including women and children, to ride on in the dark.”
Following a public consultation, Bath and North East Somerset Council submitted revised proposals.
The new proposal added pedestrian crossings, pledged to resurface footpaths on both sides of the road and adds tulip-shaped wand kerbs to better segregate the contraflowing cycle lane from the road, which originally would have only used paint to separate the cycle lane. “New eco-sensitive, heritage lighting” would also be installed at regular intervals along the cycle lane, though they do not appear in the below mock-up of the proposal.
The new proposals are also subject to a public consultation which remains open until Thursday 27th August. However, the Green Party councillors remain opposed to the bike lane.
Councillor Saskia Heijltjes said in a post on the local party’s website, “We want to be able to support efforts to make walking, wheeling and cycling an option for more people but we cannot support the plans for Royal Victoria Park. Even with additional lighting, a secluded and quiet route through a park is often experienced as socially unsafe.”
Fellow councillor Joanna Wright added, “If we want people to take up cycling, we need to opt for socially safe routes which are not secluded.”
The group also linked to an academic study from 2015 which concluded, “there was no evidence for an association between the aggregate count of crime and [the] switch off” or dimming of street lights.
With the Green Party holding three of the council’s 59 seats, the Liberal Democrat-run council is set to approve work on the cycle lane beginning in the autumn, pending feedback from the public consultation.
Councillor Lucy Hodge, Cabinet Member for Sustainable Transport Delivery, said, “In Royal Victoria Park, we have listened to feedback and refined the plans, retaining vehicle access while delivering better facilities for people walking, wheeling and cycling through the park. The improvements will create safer crossings, better accessibility and a more welcoming environment for everyone.
“We will do our best to reduce disruption to traffic while these are installed and want to thank people for their patience as these improvements are put in.”
The local Greens’ opposition attracted the ire of journalist James Ball, who highlighted the objection to the cycle lane in his latest Nimby Watch column, writing, “Lots of things are ‘experienced’ as unsafe, even if in reality they’re very low risk. Many Americans think London is an incredibly dangerous city, for example, even though crime is lower there than any major US city. Trying to run the world based on what people think is ‘socially unsafe’ could quickly get very difficult, indeed.
“If you can’t get the Green Party to back one cycle lane, then what are you ever going to get support for? The British problem has become fussing at every single plan until it’s the best possible one, which makes every possible stakeholder happy, and that plan doesn’t exist. Until we start accepting plans that are just good enough, we’re going to be stuck with plans that are bad.”
Gender equality campaigner Susannah Walker defended the Greens’ proposal however, noting on Bluesky, “Work elsewhere has demonstrated that this kind of path will not feel safe for many women and girls – and others – after dark. But separated paths are also key for women cyclists.
“So unless the Upper Bristol Road [near Royal Victoria Park – ed] also has a fully separated cycle path, there are some good reasons for pointing out the issue. I’ve talked to women in N London who don’t use the back streets cycle routes at night because they’re too deserted and instead cycle along the Holloway Road. So the Greens, are, disappointingly for everyone, at least a good part right.”
In summary, a load of men talking about women’s safety and going ‘well I’m fine so I don’t see what the problem is’ while the Green Party line is actually based on evidence and the experience of women.
— Susannah Walker (@susannahwalker.bsky.social) 18 August 2026 at 09:06
In their 2024 General Election manifesto, the Green Party of England and Wales pledged its elected representatives would fight to invest “£2.5bn a year in new cycleways and footpaths” and would adopt Active Travel England’s objective of 50% of trips in England’s towns and cities to be walked, wheeled or cycled by 2030. Bath and North East Somerset Council adopted their own Active Travel Masterplan in February of the following year.
The Greens’ opposition in Bath to local active travel infrastructure also highlights the less polarised attitude towards cycling on a local level. Since winning control at recent local elections, two Reform UK-controlled authorities have championed active travel investments in their area. Their statements run counter to party leader Nigel Farage’s claim that council budgets “waste tens of millions being spent on cycle lanes that no one uses”.
> Opinion: Boris Johnson resignation – A blow for active travel? (From 2022)
Similarly, despite the Labour Party’s increased investment in active travel on a national level, local politicians have frequently opposed installing infrastructure in their area.
1 thought on ““If you can’t get Greens to back one cycle lane, then what are you ever going to get support for?”: Green Party councillors in Bath oppose lit, protected bike lane through park”
Clickbait headline much? As is often the case, the Greens oppose a lacklustre proposal in favour of something more fit for purpose (see “Affordable” housing vs Social housing) and the media report it as blunt oppose.
I was on the LCC Womens’ Network Freedom to ride ride a few years back in London and yeah, just because a cycle route is lit, it doesn’t make it feel safe. Disappointing headline from RoadCC.