Meeting documents

1.1. The Northgate Priority Access Point was initially brought in as an experimental scheme on 30^th March 2001. The scheme was made permanent by the Council Executive on 4^th September 2002 when a commitment was made to review the operating hours. This report makes recommendations following on from that review.

2.1. a variation to the Bath and North East Somerset Council (Various Roads, Northgate Area, Bath)(CI:TE Project) Order 2002 be advertised such that the hours of operation are altered from between 8.30 am and 6.30 pm to between 10.00 am and 6.00 pm.

2.2. the powers to enable the council to carry out enforcement using cameras are applied for as soon as the legislation is passed in the Traffic Management Bill.

2.3. a further round of specific consultation on the proposed change be carried out concurrent with the public advertisement.

2.4. in the event of no objections being received and sustained the Head of Transportation, Access & Waste Management be granted delegated authority to seal the Order.

2.5. a report is produced for the Executive Member detailing proposals for creating an improved pedestrian environment within the central core of the city and in particular a north-south city centre pedestrian priority route. This is to be developed in conjunction with controls on deliveries for the central core of the city.

3.1. The costs of advertising the Traffic Regulation Order and new signage are included in the Capital Programme for 2004/05. Funding is available within the Public Realm allocation for the traffic orders associated with controls on deliveries.

3.2. The cost of making an application for enforcement powers is contained within the current capital programme however additional funding will need to be identified to enable the installation of the number plate recognition system although the enforcement scheme itself would be self-financing.

4.1. The operating periods of the Priority Access Point have remained as established at the start of the experimental period on 30^th March 2001. Before the restriction was brought in three alternative periods were considered:

4.2. Following discussions involving the police and emergency services, traders' groups and bus operators the current times of between 8.30 a.m. and 6.30 p.m., 7 days a week, were chosen.

4.3. As part of the review a limited consultation exercise has been carried out. This involved contacting groups which had been involved in the monitoring process established as part of the original experiment. Consultees were invited to choose between three options for Monday to Saturday and an alternative range for Sundays.

1.3. A reduction in operating hours from the peak traffic hours to cover simply the peak pedestrian movement times would still contribute the achievement of three objectives. The retention of the restriction during peak hours is regarded as fundamental to providing for improved public transport, however First have said they would be comfortable with the proposed change. The reduction in the operating hours in the morning would not seriously threaten reliability of the services using Northgate and would help ease the concerns of some Residents' Associations and Traders' Groups.

1.4. A number of respondents expressed concern regarding the number of drivers flouting the restriction. At present enforcement can only be carried out by the police. Legislation is currently with Parliament as part of the Traffic Management Bill which will allow local authorities to apply, under their decriminalised parking enforcement powers, to take on bus lane enforcement which would include the bus gate. The Council would wish to take up these powers once they are available and would intend to use number plate recognition camera technology.

1.5. The consultation exercises and stakeholder workshops that have recently taken place emphasised the importance of creating a more pedestrian friendly city centre. For example The Initiative for Bath and North East Somerset in their response to the 20 year vision consultation offer support for making more of the central area pedestrian friendly, increasing pedestrian priority arrangements and "reducing the use of non-suitable vehicular access". In particular support has been expressed for the concept of introducing a greater element of pedestrian priority to the main north-south pedestrian route through the city centre. This broadly comprises Southgate, Stall Street, Union Street, Old Bond Street/Burton Street and Milsom Street.

1.6. Although a substantial length of this route is fully pedestrianised the south-north procession is interrupted in a number ways. Entering at Southgate the pedestrian enjoys a completely traffic free piazza style environment. Stall Street as far as the Pump Rooms however looks like a conventional trafficked street and, although pedestrians spill into the carriageway and often by sheer volume dominate the street, the only time it is closed to traffic is Saturday. Stall Street above the Pump Rooms, Union Street and Old Bond Street/ Burton Street are fully pedestrianised but passing from one to another involves crossing traffic routes serving as access to Cheap Street, Westgate Street, Saw Close, The Mineral Hospital and Upper Borough Walls. Although the works carried out on Milsom Street go some way to introducing a pedestrian environment there is still a significant traffic flow along it to New Bond Street and across it accessing Green Street and via Quiet Street into Wood Street, Barton Street and the Trimbridge Area. The traffic on these streets is no longer through traffic but consists of servicing and delivery vehicles, those seeking on-street short stay parking places, and access to the Mineral Hospital and Saw Close car park. Milsom Street also has bus services running along it.

1.7. In order to produce a continuous pedestrian route all these breaks in continuity need to be tackled. The approach may differ between segments as each traffic route performs a slightly different function, for example the non-pedestrianised length of Stall Street could be completely closed from 10.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. in line with the proposed bus gate hours although consideration might be given to allowing blue badge holders entry for access to the Spa. However the transformation might be better managed on the Westgate Street/ Upper Borough Walls circuit by removing all on-street parking and loading facilities other than for the Mineral Hospital and making Saw Close car park disabled parking only between again 10.00 a.m. and 6.00 p.m.

1.8. It is proposed that a number of options be developed for this key pedestrian route and following discussion with the Executive Member be subjected to a similar stakeholder consultation as that used for the review of the bus gate operating times. A report would then be prepared for the Executive Member's consideration containing specific proposals for each element of the north-south route.

1.9. The Transportation Service is currently engaged in detailed work to develop a package of measures in Bath to resolve transport problems following the Bristol / Bath to South Coast Study. This study recommended improving facilities for public transport and pedestrians and as such this report supports the outcomes of that study. The recommendations of this report will be taken into account in the ongoing work on the package for Bath.

2.1. The report author and Executive member(s) have fully reviewed the risk assessment related to the issue and recommendations, in compliance with the Council's decision making risk management guidance.

3.1. The adoption of 10.00a.m. to 6.00p.m. aims to take a common sense compromise between a number of conflicting views on the hours the priority access point should remain open. It would enable servicing within the city centre to be carried out more easily and could also suggest an appropriate time band for consideration for either delivery restrictions or pedestrianisation schemes. Concerns were raised by some respondents as to whether the current physical restrictions would allow for larger volumes of traffic. Current observations show that the area is not particularly busy before 8.30am and it is expected that this will remain the case up to 10.00a.m., however if problems do arise these can be considered and ameliorative measures brought forward.

3.2. The consultation included a separate set of options for Sundays however the respondents were divided between two alternative views that, either the restriction should be removed on Sundays or should have the same time limit as weekdays. As no respondent made a particular case for Sundays being different it is proposed that the times should be as Monday to Saturday.

3.3. As the option proposed did not form part of the original consultation in is proposed that a further round of consultation be undertaken concurrent with the advertisement of the proposal.

3.4. It is not proposed to bring forward detailed proposals at this stage concerning pedestrian priority measures but to use the debate arising from this report to develop a number of detailed options.

4.1. The other options for the bus gate operating times considered are given in paragraph 4.3 and they were rejected as none were as considered capable of eliciting support from diverse stakeholder organisations.

5.1. The list of consultees and their responses is at Appendix 1 and it is proposed to repeat this consultation concurrent with the advertisement of the proposed Traffic Regulation Order.