Coach remains stuck in road closure in controversial LTN scheme

A coach in Bath was forced to spend half an hour doing a “three-point centimeter turn” on Saturday after heading up Sydney Road – which the council recently raised as part of its liveable neighborhoods programme.

It is one of five new trial schemes by Bath and North East Somerset Council which aim to make residential roads safer and more pleasant for walking and cycling. The road’s intersection with Warminster Road was resurfaced in April and bollards were installed as the road turns into Sydney Place to prevent the rat run, forcing traffic to take the Beckford Road route around Sydney Gardens to reach the city centre.

But when large vehicles are back on the road, it presents a new problem for the road. Keir Cooper, who saw the stalled trainer on Saturday, said: “It took him about half an hour to turn (a three-point turn in inches). There was a crowd watching.”

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He added that a truck trying to make the same turn as the coach a few days before hit and knocked down the stone pillar of a house.

Cllr Manda Rigby, the council’s cabinet member for transport, said: “We are monitoring this issue and have been in touch with the resident who reported the coaches. Compliant signage is in place and we know Google Maps shows it is not a through route, so drivers should be aware of the attempt.”

A spokesman for coach owners South Coast Travel said: “Whilst we cannot comment on the councils’ reasoning for installing the bollards, we believe that clearer signage is required at the entrance to this road.

“Our drivers are committed to thorough route planning, however new road changes without clear signage can lead to events like this. We often use digital tools to check the roads before we travel, however these tools are still not updated to show that the bollards have been installed.”

Mr Cooper said: “The problem is – apart from it being an appalling scheme based on the lie that Sydney Road is a rat (it’s not, it’s a perfectly serviceable and much-needed urban thoroughfare) – is that they’ve closed it stupidly in the middle of the street and didn’t create enough space for larger vehicles to turn. They claim it’s a six-month trial. We all know what that means.”

As with the council’s three previous residential district trials, the scheme is being implemented on an “experimental” basis while a consultation takes place. Despite incidents like Saturday’s, people on the road have welcomed the scheme.

At Bath and North East Somerset Council’s annual general meeting on May 16 – days before the coach got stuck – Sydney Road locals said the scheme was working and urged the council to make the scheme permanent.

Malcolm Robinson, who lives on the road, told councillors: “Sydney Road LN creates a small safe space to get around without the fear of being run over by a rat from Bathampton trying to get to Waitrose before it closes. “

Mary Allan added: “We have been freed from the tyranny of the motor vehicle.”

But the launch was controversial, after the plans were announced around 4,000 people signed a petition against the scheme before the petition was disabled by petition website 38Degrees for “inappropriate content”.