The Council will shortly implement a prohibition on the movement of through HGV traffic exceeding 18 tonnes travelling between Bathwick Street and Beckford Road and vice versa.

The aim of the ban, which is for an experimental period of 18 months, is to discourage HGVs from using Bath as a route between the M4 and destinations south of Bath. The benefits will be reduced traffic congestion and improvements in air quality on London Road, and we also hope that there will be fewer HGVs travelling along Warminster Road.

The Council estimates that over 300 daily HGV movements will be affected. During the experimental period, the Council will monitor the effects of the scheme before deciding whether to implement the ban on a permanent basis.

Cllr David Martin reported the broken road sign on North Road to BathNES Council. It has been swiftly repaired.

Bathwick councillors Nicholas Coombes and David Martin have endorsed calls for a flashing speed sign on Warminster Road.

Residents have requested a ‘speed interactive device’ to slow down traffic on one of the main routes to the city. Provision of an electronic speeding sign by Trossachs Drive has been made a priority by the Bathwick PaCT (Police and Communities Together) meeting.

The proposed sign is now on the council’s list of future transport projects and your Lib Dem councillors will be lobbying to ensure that it gets funding.

The broken steps between Minster Way and Warminster Road have been replaced.

The poor state of the old concrete steps (pictured right) was pointed out to me a few years ago by a local resident. They had subsided and the concrete was breaking up. I requested that the council fix them, but knowing that it had taken two years to have St Christophers’ Close re-surfaced I wasn’t hopeful.

Today when I passed – and they are a little out of the way – I was pleasantly surprised to see the work done and the steps replaced.

Over one hundred local residents have signed the Liberal Democrat’s petition to restore bus services to Pulteney Bridge.

Cllrs David Martin and Nicholas Coombes launched the petition to persuade First or Wessex Connect to route their services to serve the city centre. When the then Conservative Council threatened to close Pulteney Bridge, First bus moved their service to North Parade, meaning that Bathwick residents could not take the bus to the Great Pulteney Street surgery or alight at the Guildhall to access the Post Office and shops in the city centre. The new Liberal Democrat administration has lifted the threat of closure on the bridge, so the bus companies now have a free choice of route.

“I hope that this petition will remind First and Wessex that their buses serve hundreds of Bathwick residents, not just university students,” said Cllr Nicholas Coombes. “I hope that we can reach a compromise solution that works for all of the parties involved; local people are losing out right now.”

Copies of the petition have been sent to both of the bus companies which serve Bathwick Hill. To send your own message, you can write to First here or Wessex here.

Your local councillors are calling for the return of bus services over Pulteney Bridge.

The threat of closure raised by the Conservatives has been formally dropped by the new Lib Dem council, but bus companies are continuing to use North Parade. This route is longer and less convenient as it does not serve Great Pulteney Street of the city centre.

The petition reads:

We call upon First Bus and Wessex Connect to restore the university bus service to its previous route across Pulteney Bridge.

The current diversion via North Parade and Pulteney Road causes considerable inconvenience for local bus users in Bathwick, adds to traffic congestion and imposes delays on the service. By restoring the route, users will be able to access more easily the High Street, Post Office, Great Pulteney Street surgery, local banks and other shops and businesses in the Milsom Street area.

To add your name please email bathwick_libdems@yahoo.com with your name and address.

Bathwick’s local councillors have met with the Liberal Democrat in charge of transport on the AQ78 footpath.

Cllr Roger Symonds has been the cabinet member responsible for transport since the Lib Dems took up power in B&NES this May. He represents neighbouring Combe Down ward and is a keen cyclist.

AQ78 is the official designation given to the footpath from Claverton Down to Combe Down. The footpath status was confirmed by a government inspector in recent years. There is evidence that parts of the path have been used as access roads or a bridlepath in the past, contributing to the unusual width of the path.

Cllr Symonds agrees with Bathwick councillors David Martin and Nicholas Coombes that the path would make an ideal cycleway or bridlepath. The route is level, flat, wide and away from traffic. Many cyclists aleady use the route; regularising it would allow for safety improvements at either end and an improved surface for cyclists and walkers alike.

“A local boy was knocked off his bike cycling to Ralph Allen School a few years ago,” said Cllr Coombes, “with a cyclepath along AQ78 he would have a convenient, legal and safe route, avoiding Claverton Down Road where he was hit.”

Staff from B&NES Council have written to the landowners along the path to advise that the council intend to consult on creating a bridleway. A six week public consultation is likely to begin in November.

The newly Liberal Democrat B&NES Council have abandonned the Conservatives’ plan to close Pulteney Bridge.

Back in August 2010 the ruling Conservative administration sought to close Pulteney Bridge to all traffic, including buses. In anticipation of closure, First Bus rerouted their services along North Parade Road. The controversy caused by this led the Conservaties to delay their final decision until after the elections in May. Having taken control of the council then, the Lib Dems have now formally abandonned the plan, lifting all threat of closure.

Residents and passengers have found their services stuck in traffic along North Parade Road and without access to key stops at Great Pulteney Street Surgery and the Guildhall. Bathwick’s Liberal Democrat councillors campaigned strongly against these changes which disadvantaged local passengers.

With the threat of closure lifted, First Bus will be restoring some of their services over the bridge from the end of the month. Servieces along the Warminster Road are due to be returned to Pulteney Bridge from 30th October. Discussions with First and Wessex Connect continue over the route of the 18 and U18 service.