City’s major bodies ‘must play part in net zero aim’
A group representing thousands of residents is calling on Bath’s major organisations to carry their fair share of the burden in cutting their emissions.
The Federation of Bath Residents’ Associations (FOBRA) backed Bath and North East Somerset Council’s efforts to reduce the area’s carbon footprint but warns public enthusiasm will wane if the biggest polluters do not do more.
It has quit the Bath Alliance for Transport and Public Realm members of which include the Bath Business Improvement District, both of the city’s universities, the football and rugby clubs, Curo and local NHS bodies - to ensure citizens’ voices on transport issues are heard.
Ceris Humphreys, FOBRA’S transport lead, said: “It is widely appreciated by many residents in our member associations that there is urgent need for action on climate change, and many Bath residents are already making changes to their own travel behaviour to reduce their contribution to carbon use and pollution.
“With their membership including many of Bath’s biggest landowning organisations, some of which are responsible for generating substantial proportions of Bath’s congestion and pollution, the Alliance’s public positioning on transport-related matters was increasingly at odds with the interests of FOBRA’S resident-focused membership.”
The council’s Journey to Net Zero consultation revealed plans to split the city centre into four “cells” and limit traffic movement between them. It said combined with the ring of steel, a movement study for the “top of town” - covering Grand Parade and High Street, Dorchester Street, James Street West, Green Park Road - and a masterplan for the Milsom Quarter, road space will be reallocated to deliver “significant improvements to active travel, public transport facilities and the public realm”.
FOBRA said without a substantial reduction in traffic into and across the city, closing main roads in the centre should be “unthinkable due to the inevitable displacement” into neighbouring residential roads and roads past schools.
It highlighted the lack of specific measures to address traffic from major players such as the universities, the RUH and Bath Rugby, and called for recognition that areas they have allocated for parking are “unsustainable and incompatible with their responsibilities as key stakeholders in the city”.
It said: “With much of the traffic to these sites coming from outside Bath and North East Somerset, and without genuine and effective measures by the organisations managing these sites, the burden of carbon reduction targets falling on residents will be disproportionately high. A fairer distribution of the burden should be the aim.”
Ms Humphreys said: “This requires greater and more effective challenge to the most intensive generators of traffic in and across the city who in some cases own and operate substantial amounts of car parking on their sites.
“Our questions to the Alliance leadership in this regard did not satisfy us of their resolve to demand sacrifices from their members commensurate with those being asked of Bath residents.”
Alliance chair Robin Kerr, who previously headed FOBRA, said his organisation recognised the need for travel plans for large institutions but added that much of the traffic will inevitably consist of residents.
The Alliance welcomed the council’s Journey to Net Zero proposals and emphasised the need for an overall traffic plan for the city to provide a framework for low traffic neighbourhoods and the reduction of traffic through the centre.
“This must be done in a way that prevents displacement to other residential areas, by means of LTNS and overall traffic reduction,” said Mr Kerr.
“The Alliance will continue its efforts to encourage and support the council to develop and deliver a fully detailed Bath transport plan to improve the city that we value so much.
“To this end, we have proposed the establishment of a consultative stakeholder review board, which would include residents and other city representatives.”
In its response to the consultation, the Alliance said a comprehensive transport plan for the city “must reduce traffic intrusion throughout the city by means of constraints, further action on parking, greatly improved public transport and other measures”.
Many Bath residents are already making changes to their own travel behaviour. Ceris Humphreys