AGM yesterday!

If you were one of the fifty there, I hope you came away from the meeting with the same sense of positivity.  Thanks for being there and for the several apologies from those who were away. We gave the panel of four councillors, including Joanna Wright, Joint Cabinet Lead for Transport, two overwhelming votes of support for pursuing the LTN course of action. 

Additionally when people sign up for our Low Traffic Neighbourhood campaign there is the option to add a comment.  Here is a download of the comments which nearly half the 66 so far, have made.

• After the ‘Massive Bang’ in June many of us have said we have to return Camden Road to being a street life which is full of life again.  We get glimpses of it when the snow falls.  This is not ‘Fortress Camden’ – we are open to all who want use our road on foot, bike or bus.
• Really supportive of this initiative!
• Yes, but how?
• Brilliant idea
• A great ambition that would support a more environmentally friendly Bath.
• Camden must be returned to its original tranquil village-like atmosphere
• Signing for my young children who I walk to nursery but often it feels unsafe doing so.
• Great  initiative – thanks!
• We really need this, the road is a nightmare.
• Wholeheartedly supported. Necessary on so many levels. Traffic needs to be pushed back down onto the London Road. And the London Road needs sorting. Further pressure must come to bear to divert HGV and through-traffic around Bath.
• This is so important.  For so many reasons – our health, drivers’ health, planet’s health – we have to push back against traffic.
• A bus gate would be great.
• Traffic has got steadily worse even in the last two years. Pollution noticeably worse too.
• Camden Road is dangerous due to speeding vehicles, oversized vehicles and extreme traffic, not to mention the CO2 and NOX. Something must be done to limit its use to residents and their visitors.
• Clean air and safety when walking are surely rights. They need to be treated as such not sacrificed for the convenience of car drivers (of which I am one).
• Too many cars going past our grade 1 listed building. Need to ban cars like the circus residents are trying to do..
• Too many heavy cars and surprisingly large buses use this road as a cut through.  Furthermore many of them ignore the safe speed limit
• Fully support this initiative being implemented as soon as possible.
• Strongly support this initiative and understand that we may all have to go along with some personal restrictions.
• The traffic, and the resulting pollution is becoming unbearable. It makes our street dangerous and damages our health.
• I support making Camden Road a liveable street again.
• 👍🏻👏
• Hugely supportive of this from a safety perspective for ours and the many children who live here.
• I am not sure of the practicalities but I am sure that something needs to be done.  I don’t want to benefit if other people are going to be disadvantaged but we do need to start somewhere and we need to encourage walking, cycling and public transport, not more SUVs please.
• It is a laudable aim to try to create a LTN for Camden etc. It will be difficult to achieve but a start needs to be made. We do have to greatly reduce the need to use private cars not only for health, safety and peace but also for climate change reasons.
• We must discourage the use of private cars in every way, for the climate and for our wellbeing. I lead a ‘walk to school bus’ along Camden rd and less traffic would be safer, healthier and more relaxed for the kids. Thanks for all you are doing
• We used to live on Camden Road with our small children and dreaded taking them down the road to nursery as there was so much traffic during rush hour. Now we live on Marshfield Way and it is also used by drivers racing up the hill.
• I fully support this scheme.

This is a further very strong expression of support counterbalanced with a few cautionary comments.  This does not look like the views of a coterie of fanatics but a measured response from a solid group of residents. Running my finger down the list of email addresses I can see we have sober thinking people on it:  genuine residents, parents with young children, a lawyer, designers, a nurse, a town planner, business owners, council workers, HR consultants,  a housing expert, a mining engineer, a design engineer, a publisher, a food expert etc etc.

The CRA is pinning its colours to the LTN mast and wants to make tangible progress as quickly as possible.  If the campaign reaches 200 subscribers then the mandate surely is solid.  Using Experimental Traffic Orders and with careful briefings and consultation the major risks and costs could be managed down to acceptable levels and we’re happy to be the first one in.  I’m reminded of what looked like a controversial Adult Social Care change project I led for Kent County Council, one of the biggest in the country, which having proven the case in the first two towns caused a county-wide clamour for the same thing.  We had to be measured in our roll-out to temper the enthusiasm to ensure we kept quality up but we got there.

Our newly published 20 FAQs are designed not to look binding but simply to put some flesh on the bones on what is otherwise a very abstract thing.  If you feel as moved as the audience was last night, can you remind all your neighbours of our web-site and the means by which they can support our campaign at https://camdenresidentsbath.org/.

Finally do join our campaign here.

Jeremy