Residents say CAZ pushing ‘horrendous traffic’ into area
Residents across Bath have said their lives are being ruined by huge lorries thundering down their road to avoid the city’s Clean Air Zone.
Locals on Whiteway Road have said the traffic is “absolutely horrendous” and keeps them awake at night.
One couple, who live on Rush Hill, have said that the increased traffic has put people off buying their house.
Bath’s Clean Air Zone was introduced in March and charges now apply to taxis, private hire vehicles, vans, light goods vehicles, buses, coaches and HGVS that do not meet the required emission standards.
The Clean Air Zone was introduced because several places in Bath currently exceed the legal limits for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution, which is mainly caused by vehicle emissions.
Now locals living outside the zone fear traffic displacement is causing pollution levels near them to rise. No data has yet been released on this.
Laura and Alan Weston live on Rush Hill and say the problem is so bad they can’t sell their house.
Mrs Weston, 71, said: “It’s just absolutely horrendous.
“We’ve been here 40 years and want to move somewhere quiet but nobody wants it.
“It’s the heavy lorries at 5.30pm and late into the night too.
“We’re a bag of nerves really. We’ve been on the market since last October – people tell the estate agent they like the house but it’s the road, it’s the traffic.”
She continued: “They didn’t seek our opinions on this and they can’t see what it has done to our lives. They just take it for granted people wanted it.
“It’s getting silly what we have had to put up with and now we’re paying for having a house here. If we had a fancier post code maybe this wouldn’t be a problem. It’s really affecting our lives.
“All I want to do in the day is get out of the house away from it all – the size of the lorries is really huge. We get these ones carrying huge cement pipes for sewage or something.
“I take my grandkids to school a couple days a week and it’s frightening, I do all I can, make sure I walk on the road side but they thunder past you and they’ve only got to do is swerve and we’re in trouble.”
John and Marcia Roost live on Whiteway Road, close to the very steep section in a property very close to the road.
Mrs Roost, 73, said: “The volume of traffic has been going up immensely to the point it is astronomical.
“They never keep to the speed limit either. Some people even overtake here, too.
“It’s the size of the vehicles and the speed of them.
“We’ve been living here for 26 years and I have never woken up in the night from a heavy vehicle until recently. Now I wake up in the night at around 4am to 5am to the sound of continuous traffic and big HGVS going past.”
Mr Roost, 74, said: “One is sympathetic to the problem they have in Bath with pollution but they’ve got to be careful not to push it out here. They’ve now got big HGVS driving through Rush Hill – where there are lots of schools. It’s not safe.
“They are keeping the traffic out of the city but moving it all here.” Neighbour Alan Brown, 76, said he estimated traffic in the area had increased by 30 per cent. He said: “It was always busy here but it has gotten worse recently.
“It is also the speed – none of the cars keep to the speed limit here because they go from a 50mph into a 30mph zone. At night they whizz by at 80mph to 90mph but I guess you’ll always get that.
“I’d say there has been a 30 per cent increase in traffic since the Clean Air Zone.
“I’ve lived here for 36 years – it’s always been the bypass for Bath but now it has got all the lorries who don’t know where they’re going but try to avoid the Clean Air Zone.”
Julian Bowles, 46, also lives on Whiteway Road, closer to Rush Hill. He said that the lorries thundering past his house make it “dangerous” for him to get out of his driveway.
He said: “Many of the lorries don’t realise how steep the road is and get stuck. We’ve had them break down here before.
“I’ve been here seven or eight years and it has gotten worse. It’s scary to see the bigger lorries coming down – you see our drive here – well, it gets dangerous trying to get out.”
Neighbour Chris, who did not want his surname included, said that he struggles to get his disabled wife out of the house and into the car because of the traffic.
He said: “I’ve lost my wing mirror three times already this year. I try to get my wheelchair-bound wife into the car, but it is very hard with all the traffic.
“I’ve reached out to the councillors but haven’t had anything back. I’ve said for years that it needs to be a 20mph zone here and the speed camera needs to actually work because we’ve been told it’s not worked for years.”
Another Rush Hill resident said the problem is getting worse over time.
Andrea Moon, 77, said: “It is getting worse and worse. Really big lorries, HGVS, van deliveries – everything. I don’t have much to do with the internet but I hear one sat nav company is telling people how to avoid the Clean Air Zone.”
Waze now lets users indicate if their vehicle is due to be charged so they can use alternative routes or get a reminder to pay the charge when they enter.
Mrs Moon continued: “It’s always been busy but this is awful now. I’ve been here for 40 years and now it’s a nightmare simply trying to cross the road.
“They have got cleaner air in Bath but it’s pushing it out, which isn’t fair.”
Councillor Dine Romero recently confirmed that Whiteway Road is being monitored to see what impact the Clean Air Zone is having.
Bath and North East Somerset Council has been approached for comment.