Guy here- former chair of WRB, but still allowed to muse forth with the occasional blog!

Well… ’tis the season to be jolly and all that. So let’s take a moment to reflect on the things that have gone well in 2025, as well as look ahead to the future! Oh, and check in on how accurate some of my predictions this time last year have proved.

Let’s dwell on the positives

• BUILD BABY BUILD! Yes, some actual infrastructure on the ground is starting to appear. Bath Quays Links is starting to emerge on Green Park Road, and Scholars Way (a concept first proposed by WalkRideBath) is also appearing on Combe Down.
• BIKE BUS BEGINS! I am full of admiration for people who just get stuff done. Well done to everyone involved in starting the first Bike Bus in Bath started at Bathampton Primary.
• DOTT GOES DOTTY! The operation area was indeed ‘dot like’ for a long while, but as of December it covers nearly all of Bath. Hurray! Many discounts (eg. NHS staff) are available – click here.
• BANES PROPOSE TO TAX FAT DRIVERS! Well, charge the owners of massive cars more for the privilege of taking up extra public space when parking.
• PERMIT PARKING PROLIFERATES! Driving is the natural choice if you have a car and a free place to park at your destination. The free parking (on public roads) is something slowly being addressed, currently around Locksbrook Road.
• ZEBRAS ZEEN ZEVERWHERE! Who knew that 2025 was the year of the zebra in the Bathonian Calendar? Enough new zebras recently to open a safari park- and more to come in 2026.
• LIVEABLE NEIGHBOURHOODS A TRIUMPH!*- Whilst a couple of dozen people wearily bang their pro-car / anti-children drums, the majority of people are totally content without obnoxious drivers ruining their streets. The Circus is particular is vastly improved.
  *where they made it to implementation.
• MR TOAD’S OPINIONS SQUASHED- 20mph is now clearly established as the norm for all urban roads in BANES. Lives saved, injuries avoided, neighbourhoods enhanced. We still need to finish the job in Bath and create England’s first 20mph City- join hundreds of other citizens and sign the petition here to do the final 15 miles!
• RIVERLINE REAPS REWARDS! Just some really nice urbanism being delivered by the Riverline Team, including an all weather accessible path through Green Park – HALLELUJAH! Other BANES departments- take note!
• BULGING BIKE HANGERS! A huge success in giving people transport options. Most hangers are full or have a handful of spaces.
• WECA LOVE IN! Where Everyone Completely Adores each other. Things appear to have taken a turn for the more conciliatory at WECA, which is a good thing for the region. Just don’t mention Dan Norris.
• BOARDMAN BANGS BONGO! Banging the drum for child safe streets, safe routes to school, and just generally a nicer world, we are lucky to have this guy at the top of Active Travel England.
• HIGHWAYS HALVED! The Highways brief in the Lib Dem Cabinet is a massive role, and arguably one which has the biggest potential to shape daily lives. So dividing the work load between two people is probably a smart move.

Zero to hero at Green Park- well done Bath Riverline team!

Reasons to continue being cheerful in 2026!

Yes, there is more to come. Here are some certainties and some predictions for 2026…

• BUILD BABY BUILD! We are approaching the end of a funding cycle (haha) in April 2027, so expect to see plenty of shovels and diggers in 2026. Bath Quays continues, Charles Street, through the city centre, potentially from the River Path up to the RUH and Weston. Plenty for infrastructure spotters like me.
• SCHOOL STREETS START! Painfully slow in the birthing, but we should see the first school streets in 2026. Credit to parents being asked to literally ‘man the barricades’, or more likely in fact ‘woman the barricades’. Wiltshire are using cameras.
• BRISTOL 2 BATH PATH TO GROW! By 800 meters to the east is the plan. Hartwells development has started, so that bit is guaranteed now.
• BANES GETS A NEW CHIEF EXEC! Any institution is to an extent influenced by the biases of key decision makers within it. So whilst having a woman who has done the school run on a cargo bike at the helm is not a ‘magic wand’… it probably isn’t going to hurt.
• BIKE BUSES BLOOM! Which school will have the second bike bus?!
• CARGO BIKE DELIVERIES? They have really struggled to get going… could this be the year?
• HIGHWAY MAINTENANCE GET ONBOARD! We start to see active travel improvements being woven into routine work. Resurfacing the pavement at the same time at the road would be a start. And take the opportunity to make them level too!
• ENGLANDS FIRST 20MPH CITY! Come on Bath- it is within touching distance! 15 miles to go. A city that shouts out that safety comes before driver speed- something to be really proud of! Please join hundred of others and sign the petition here.
• CHILD SEATS ON DOTT BIKES! Can you imagine a car that has no facility for moving at least one child? Hum… me neither.
• AMBITIOUS PLANS FOR BATHAMPTON MEADOWS! National Trust outline the longest walking, wheeling and cycling route seen in decades, from Bathampton through to Grosvenor Bridge.
• NORTH SOMERSET JOIN WECA! Although, probably not fully until April 2027 at earliest. Come join the ‘love in’ folks!
• PAVEMENT PARKING PROHIBITED! Finally, national government makes good and we have a default position of no vehicles being stored on pavements, with councils given civil enforcement powers.
• FIRST JUNCTIONS WITH DEDICATED CYCLE PHASE- super nerdy, but to my knowledge this is a first- junctions that treat people cycling as a proper form of transport requiring their own signalled phase (not mixed in with pedestrians or drivers). Coming to Charles Street in 2026 (or 2027 at latest)
• WECA TRANSIT GOES ALL TfL! ‘West’ the WECA transit arm will increasingly come to resemble a cash strapped Transport for London- and that will include taking on some of Bath’s A-Roads, notably the A36 and the A4 London Road / Bathwick Street
• DRIVERS WILL HAVE A SMASHING TIME! Every year drivers smash up the historic fabric of Bath. 2026 will no doubt be more of the same, with the tax payer having to shoulder some of the cost of repairs (and the NHS mending the people… if they can)
• KEYNSHAM BYPASS BOOMERANG! Yes, the mobility hub will be back, but if there are bus lanes, they certainly won’t be the full length of the bypass. Expect a 40mph limit too – mainly to reduce the noise and fumes.

Mystic Guy marked

So, how did I do regards my predictions at the end of 2024? Well…

• The Green Party will whip up their Bristol base and nearly win the election to be WECA Mayor

WRONG!

• Dott (formerly Tier) will finally expand to cover all of Bath…

Pretty much

• …but the council and the Canal and River Trust will continue to exclude them from the core of the active travel network (River Path, Linear Park, 2 Tunnels, all canal tow paths) thus limiting uptake of the scheme (in which WECA have a profit share). If Dott is such an issue, why are other commercial cycle hire operations in Bath not? (and there are several hiring out ebikes)

Frustratingly, as predicted. You can legally import a Dodge RAM that meets none of the UK vehicle safety standards and drive it in Bath. But you can’t use a totally legal Dott ebike on the river path…

• No meaningful change in dedicated safe cycling provision…

Correct

• …nevertheless, more people will be cycling simply as they are so concerned with climate emergency and they are willing to risk their life (vice driving) to do something about it. 

Yup. The climate crisis is an existential threat- to people who choose to walk, wheel and cycle!

• The impact of a warming climate will continue to be measured in the devastating impact on… cars. Images of cars submerged in water, floating down streets, piled against bridges will continue to be a staple of news feeds. So spare a thought for those cars everyone! 

Oh yes- lots of those images, recently from Indonesia, but from everywhere basically. WILL SOMEONE NOT THINK OF THE CARS???

• A ban on pavement parking in urban areas with local authorities given power of civil enforcement will be proposed by central government 

FFS. How long do we have to talk about this? Wrong.

• All the most recent Liveable Neighbourhoods will be made permanent and the roll out will continue. The ‘one to watch’ is Pultney Estate and potentially Camden Road will be juicy too. 

Oh yes- juicy was the word! Camden was predictably difficult, but a shame to see Pultney Estate get binned. Residents can only look at the Circus area with envy for now.

• One school street will be implemented 

Well, 4 will (sort of) happen a year on from the original deadline IIRC. But none in 2025 so… WRONG!

• The reopening of the A36 at Limpley Stoke will not happen until late Summer 

Monday 30th of June, so no, pretty much as planned.

• The A36 will be reduced to 20mph throughout urban Bath

A year too early on that one, fingers crossed. But… WRONG!

• No expansion to residents parking zones

WRONG! New zones proposed, with emissions elements, and ‘fat tax’ proposed, and (why did this not happen sooner?) rises linked to inflation. Monthly permits are currently cheaper than a session of trampolining at the leisure centre (recommend that BTW)

• No work place parking levy

Ha- of course not. Like rejoining the EU or nationalising private schools, some things are just for talking about.

• No changes to bus ownership structure

Correct. And would we notice the difference? The traffic the buses are stuck in is the core issue.

• No reduction in single occupant vehicles going to RUH, Bath Uni and Bath Spa Uni. 

CORRECT- the RUH does a good line in demolishing buildings and green areas and adding car parking. They are busy doing just that at present. Never mind the pollution and danger being heaped on surrounding roads. Bath Uni equally sit on their hands and offer parking at a c.£1 per day to thousands of drivers, whilst their own academics wag their fingers at us.

• The CRSTS programme leads will start to panic about undeliverable elements and there will be opportunities to grab funding for active travel and LNs. 

CORRECTISH- I think there is a little bit of nervousness about how to deliver. The hoo-har around Keynsham mobility hub didn’t help…. but suddenly the Bristol Bath path extension is definitely happening. Weird how things pan out….

• A ‘Movement Plan’ will be published to essentially define for the first time what we consider to be our ‘main road’ defined by politics rather than drivers. Expect some heated debate around likes of Weston Road, Camden Road and Old Fosse Road.

WRONG! A Movement Plan WAS published, but it totally ducked the core issue of defining the main road network, without which little other effective planning can be done. For instance, why spend a fortune on cycle lanes and crossings, when a row of bollards gets a better result for a fraction of the cost?

Conclusion

I will give myself a ‘D’ for that… not my finest work! Must do better in the coming year!

Merry Christmas from all the WRB! Could Santa arrive in one of these? Probably not…