Wera calls on Metro Mayor to fund research into the city’s traffic

18 August 2017

Wera calls on the Metro Mayor to spend some money on Bath's traffic woes...

Wera Hobhouse is calling for a rethink in our approach to transport and pollution in the city. “We can all agree that we need to reduce the amount of traffic in Bath. Pollution is dangerous to our health, and dissolves our buildings. But we have reached the point where people are just shouting about the favourite project. What we need in Bath is evidence.

That’s why I’m calling on the Metro Mayor to spend some of our West of England money on gathering this research. For instance, on the London Road, just what proportion of traffic is north/south traffic? What proportion is school run? What is local deliveries? All these questions and more, need to be answered before we embark on costly and damaging projects such as the link road, or a new Park and Ride.

We must consider the consequences of pushing ahead without evidence. Much effort has gone into promoting the A350 as a Southampton/M4 corridor. But, if we build a link road we undermine this, traffic might be attracted back to the A36 in huge volumes blighting the villages along that route, whilst at the same time having little or no impact on congestion on the London Road.

That is why I will be saying to the Metro Mayor, don’t get distracted by vanity projects, let’s start with the facts; don’t simply respond to the symptoms, let’s look at the evidence; that way we can build a transport policy that delivers a package of measures, solutions that meet the needs of Bath.”