10 filters 

That is all it would take to make all of Bath a ‘Liveable City’. That is how close we are to making every street outside the main roads of Bath:

• Safe
• Quiet
• Available for children to play
• A haven for walking and cycling
• Great for wheeling IF the appropriate provisions are made 
• Business and event friendly

I live on a ‘new’ LTN and have genuinely seen for myself the transformative effect that they can have. Above all, the huge reduction in road danger starts to give people different transport options. Change is not overnight- indeed, who is going to invest £2500 in an ecargo bike during the 18 month trial? If the plug gets pulled, then you potentially won’t have the safe place to use it anyway. 

But it really is a case of build it and they will come- we know this as we saw it in Covid. Hugely reduce the road danger (almost exclusively generated by motor vehicle) and active travel booms. It really is that simple, and it is what is happening in LTNs all around the UK including in Bath.

The progress towards a Liveable City is detailed on this map. Green areas already low traffic (including LTN trial areas). Yellow areas are getting there (though nothing is a ‘done deal’) and Red area have no known plans. It is striking how few red areas there are left. 

I should emphasise that a Liveable City does not give up on its main road infrastructure. There are too many places where there is not even a pavement. Too many places there is no safe means of crossing the road. No high quality cycling infrastructure outside the short stretch on Upper Bristol Road. The remaining 30mph roads in Bath are looking increasingly incongruous. Removing through traffic from residential streets generally has a negligible impact on motor traffic levels on boundary roads, and it allows limited budget for things like zebra crossings and protected cycling infrastructure to be focussed on places where they deliver the best value for money. 

Linked to that, LTNs are just that- neighbourhoods. For a truly Liveable City they need to be stitched together, and that is going to require investment on main roads too. That connectivity is something explored in the WRB map on ‘cycling with children this summer’ which could equally be called ‘cycling for people who are rightly scared for sharing road space with dangerous machines’. It really shows how the network is so nearly there- but not. And if we are serious about tackling things like climate emergency and widespread poor mental and physical health, we need to give people serious, safe, convenient travel options. 

One of the most important steps we need right now is a ‘circulation plan’. This is essentially a strategic agreement about what constitutes a ‘main road’. This might sound obvious, but in recent times we have allowed drivers (and to an extent their sat navs) to self-define what they consider to be the ‘best’ routes based almost solely on what is convenient to them, rather than considering for instance how appropriate it is in light of road design or adequate alternatives. We hear that it should be forthcoming for consultation later this year.

We also desperately need a policy for and implementation of school streets. As a city Bath is falling miles behind places like Bristol and Frome in roll out in this really well understood safety measure that has a whole raft of positive outcomes. There is money allocated. There are schools up for the challenge of implementation. There are councillors willing to ‘grease the wheels’. Let’s just get on with it!

And 10 more filters for a Liveable City.

Our politicians have put so much into this already- can they see it through and give people safe streets and safe transport options? What a prize at stake.