Sydney Road final decision 

Liveable Neighbourhoods Team
Bath & North East Somerset Council
Lewis House, Manvers Street, Bath. BA1 1JG
www.bathnes.gov.uk
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 01225 394025

Our ref: Sydney Road ETRO Trial   
Date: 6 March 2023


Dear Occupant
Decision to trial a through-traffic restriction on Sydney Road and New Sydney Place
We are writing to inform you of the decision to trial a through-traffic restriction on Sydney Road at its junction with New Sydney Place from the week beginning 
1 April 2024 (excluding the bank holiday) for a minimum of six months.
During the trial, the council will monitor its impact and invite people to share their views in a public consultation.
The trial is the result of significant consultation already conducted under the Liveable Neighbourhood (LN) programme. You can find out more about this, and the decision on the trial, at www.bathnes.gov.uk/sydneyroadETRO.

Aims of the trial
The aim of the restriction is to stop motorists from using these residential streets as a short cut to avoid the A36/Bathwick Street junction, while maintaining vehicle access to homes and businesses from either side of the restriction. We also want to improve the environment for residents and create a safe and pleasant route for walking and cycling through the area. This is important, because not everyone owns a car, and our wider policy is to provide people with more choice on travelling safely, fairly, and sustainably.

While some residents may have to drive a little longer to access properties in the area (depending on their route), it’s expected that the trial will also encourage more people to choose active travel for short, local journeys. This would reduce short car trips, with benefits to health, well-being, and the local environment

Scheme details
The through-traffic restriction comprises a set of six bollards placed across Sydney Road at its junction with New Sydney Place. Access to properties is maintained from either side of the restriction. Additionally, we will remove the dedicated filter lane into Sydney Road from Warminster Road (A36, towards Bath) and make improvements to junctions. See the annotated map enclosed with this letter.

About the public consultation
  • We will be installing the trial from week beginning 1 April (excluding the bank holiday) for a minimum of six and a maximum of 18 months, by which time we must decide on whether to modify, remove it or make it permanent.
  • During the first six months we will hold a public consultation, inviting local residents and the wider public to share their views.
  • A public consultation questionnaire will be available online and in other accessible formats (on request) from the beginning of April for six months. It will ask questions on your where you live, how you travel in or use the area, and your experience of the trial. We suggest you complete the questionnaire after several weeks of the trial starting.
  • We will also hold a public consultation event during the trial, open to residents and the wider public.
  • We will engage key stakeholders directly, such as local schools and businesses and local community groups.
  • We will continue to engage the emergency services and other key services.
  • Within five months, we will also conduct further detailed engagement with residents and businesses close to the trial street to understand more about their experiences and how travel choices and behaviours may have changed over the course of the trial. We will define this engagement area when the initial impacts of the scheme have fully emerged. This letter you have received today was sent to residents and businesses across a wider area for information and awareness.
Monitoring and evaluation
We have already collected baseline traffic and air quality data from around the area. To measure the impact of the trial, we will repeat the same exercise within five months, and again after one year of operation. See our website for more details.

We will analyse and report on all the consultation outcomes and consider these in the context of wider council policy to inform a decision on the trial within 18 months.

Please note that National Highways has informed us of emerging plans for significant roadworks on the A36 to the south of Bath that could begin in late summer 2024. If this happens, we will not conduct any related traffic monitoring during this time and will plan to complete our detailed engagement within the first five months of the trial, prior to any work starting. Air quality readings will also be taken outside of this period. The public consultation will remain open for six months.

Installation of the trial
We will install the trial from the week beginning 1 April taking up to two weeks. We aim to keep disruption to a minimum, but access restrictions will apply at certain times. A schedule will be available by letter and online in due course.

Pre-installation drop-in event
We are inviting residents receiving this letter to attend a drop-in event on 20 March at the Guildhall, High Street, Bath between 2-7pm. Here you can view the detailed technical designs and find out more about how we will run the consultation. Please inform us in advance if you require disabled access or additional support.

More information on the trial is available at www.bathnes.gov.uk/sydneyroadETRO.

Yours sincerely
The Liveable Neighbourhoods Team
Bath & North East Somerset Council
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