Planetary alignment
Reprising on my AGM theme, if there ever was a time to sort out the traffic problems in Camden and NE Bath in general – this is it. Sometimes things just seem to be arranged propitiously.
- The Clean Air Zone will be implemented by the end of 2020. This will have an effect on the numbers of heavier vehicle in the centre of Bath but will not directly bear down on the lighter vehicles rat-running up and down our streets. However there are other ‘non-chargeable’ measures, as they call them, which may help more directly, such as better signage to the P&R from the M4.
- Climate Emergency Declaration. This was passed in March this year and commits Bath to being carbon neutral by 2030. This will have to mean real change to our driving habits and how all of us can still get around the city.
- Change of council administration in May, which, if nothing, else has given the new administration four years to get on with implementing their manifesto. Most encouraging in that manifesto included the idea of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, which is an exciting idea with an excellent track record of success in north London and in Europe. Bob on our committee was onto that straightaway.
- The appointment of Joanna Wright, a new local Larkhall councillor, as Joint Transport Lead in the Council Cabinet. This is someone who throughly understands from direct experience what traffic is like round here and told us at our AGM of her passionate desire to change things for the better.
- ‘Massive Bang’ in June when four vehicles were involved in an accident with one large SUV being pushed across the pavement into the front gateway of a house belonging to the young family of Francois Louw, Bath rugby captain and South African world cup winner. This was a real galvanising moment for the CRA. We said “enough is enough”. We struck a deal with our local councillors – the CRA would secure the support of local residents and the Council would work with us on an early implementation of the LTN idea if at possible.
- Walk to School Bus – this is the first actual change for the better and nothing to do with the CRA but we applaud it. A series of escorted walking routes to St Stephen’s School for school children at each end of the school day.
- Cleveland Bridge weight restriction in 2020 and two month closure during the summer. Hauliers should be encouraged to discover better alternatives to the A46<->A36 link over the bridge. Hopefully they will stick to them and give London Road a lease of life.
A group of us have been considering how to build on the encouraging CRA campaign which today has 94 signatures (up 30 since the AGM, just over two weeks ago). Rather than working from first principles and learning from our inevitable mistakes we have decided to contact someone who has already done it – Cllr Clyde Loakes in Walthamstow, for whom it took 14 years to get to his first LTN! Here’s a beautiful excerpt from one of his speeches:
Surprisingly our plans for a human centric, better community provoked rage, protest and the use of four-letter anglo saxon words from a 500-strong group. Removing £100 million from our social services budget, nothing, but if you talk about parking…
But a ground-up movement of residents and fellow councillors championed a progressive intervention for our streets, making them better for everyone. We went house to house and made the case.
In the local elections in May this year and worried by what was being said on social media, the local press, in public meetings and on protests – I drafted my resignation letter. But guess what… I got the largest majority I have ever had.
Clive Loakes, Healthy Streets Conference London Oct 2018
It looks like we’ve made a good start but we need to understand the next steps. We’ll try and get an hour of his time before Christmas. He is coming to Bath in late January but we don’t want to wait till then.
If you are interested in joining our campaign please sign up – there’s a link on the righthand side of every page of our web-site. If you want to get involved further then please contact us here.
Jeremy, Chair, CRA
I found Councillor Wright’s address to the meeting unimpressive; lots of optimism, aspiration, and hand-wringing anxiety about the environment – as if we haven’t been shouted at sufficiently by Scandinavian teenagers – but little if any indication of what can be done to resolve our immediate Camden Road/Crescent problem.
If the council’s answer is a Low Traffic Neighbourhood that would simply discourage traffic by making it slower and difficult, it’s not an answer that will stop Camden Road being used as a rat-run during the morning and evening commuting hours, when the sheer volume of traffic couldn’t make it slower. That’s not a problem during the rest of the day, when the road is used as a race track by drivers who ignore the very large 20 mph signs.