Locals in leafy Bath have launched a crowd-funding drive to sue their Liberal Democrat council over a “deeply unpopular” Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) pushed through without “adequate” reasoning.
Sydney Road was closed to through traffic in April as part of Bath and North East Somerset (Banes) Council’s “liveable neighbourhoods” programme – but before it can be made permanent, Bath residents are taking the authority to court.
They argue that making the LTN full-time would push down safety, pushing traffic onto less safe boundary roads as drivers avoid the newly cordoned-off road.
The fundraiser, on crowd-funding site GoFundMe, has already smashed its £5,000 legal fee target – and has pledged to donate any unused funds to Dorothy House, a local end-of-life care charity.
It also bears resemblance to a similar move by locals in a London suburb, who are taking their Labour council to court for holding a “flawed” public consultation into imposing an LTN.
Residents argue that making the LTN full-time would push down safety
PA
The appeal, organised by Neil McCabe, details how the council “appear determined to convert the experimental traffic regulation order that has been running since April into a permanent arrangement.
“Listening to their residents is not on their radar,” it adds.
But it continues: “However, Banes may have made a fatal error.
“By not publishing an adequate Statement of Reasons setting out the aims of the ETRO [experimental traffic regulation order], we believe there is no legal basis in law to convert it to a permanent TRO [traffic regulation order].
MORE LTN LUNACY:
“The type of Statement of Reasons used for New Sydney Place has already been proven inadequate in the legal objection to the Lower Lansdown LTN, and we therefore think we have strong grounds to challenge any move to make the ETRO permanent in court.”
The reference to Lower Lansdown points to another liveable neighbourhood – covering a large area behind the city’s iconic Royal Crescent – which was blocked after the council did not contest a legal challenge from neighbours who warned it would dangerously push traffic past children’s schools.
Fundraiser head McCabe told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “On a personal basis the impact is small but annoying.
“I’m more focused on the fact that it results in reduced safety and increased pollution and congestion by pushing traffic onto less safe roads.”
Bath residents are taking their local authority to court
PA
Residents voiced their fury to the council back in July – where locals fumed at increased traffic on nearby roads and “near misses happening the whole time”.
A statement from one local, Daniel Selwood, said: “Their liveable neighbourhood has become our unliveable neighbourhood.”
But at earlier meetings, some Bath-dwellers praised the scheme, with one, Mary Allan, hailing how “we have been freed from the tyranny of the motor vehicle… Restricting through traffic has proved the only way to achieve this”.
At the Lib Dem conference in September, one top councillor from Bath read out a message to the party which pushed for “more powers to be able to shut roads without quite so much ability for legal challenge”.
The council had originally planned to bring in 15 liveable neighbourhoods across the city, but this has since been cut back to 11 due to “funding constraints” and soaring construction costs.
GB News has approached Banes Council for comment.
