The Church Street and Prior Park Road area is one of several areas in our community-led Liveable Neighbourhood (LN) programme. It is a residential area located to the south-east of Bath city centre, approximately 0.15 miles from Bath Spa train station.
The Liveable Neighbourhood Programme aims to improve residential street environments and create more space for those that want to walk, wheel or cycle their short journeys.
Learn more about the LN programme including our aims and approaches.
Our proposals
During previous consultations, residents in Church Street and Prior Park Road told us that they were concerned about the speed and volume of through-traffic on Church Street which was already designated ‘access-only’. They also noted narrow pavements, excessive traffic and a lack of safe crossings across the area.
We have already introduced a through-traffic restriction on Church Street to reduce congestion and improve the flow of traffic. This was made permanent in January 2024 after a six-month trial and public consultation.
We are now proposing to:
- install a zebra crossing on Widcombe Hill just west of the junction with the Tyning
- install a continuous crossing over the junction of Church Street with Widcombe Hill
These improvements would mean:
- approaching vehicles must reduce their speed
- pedestrians have priority when crossing Widcombe Hill and the Church Street junction
- improved pedestrian safety
View the proposals on a map
Click on the numbers on the map to read a description of each proposal.
The numbers on the map correspond to the following annotations.
Proposals are to:
- Install a continuous crossing over the junction of Church Street with Widcombe Hill and remove the existing traffic island.
- Remove approximately three on-street resident parking spaces on Church Street and provide double yellow lines to accommodate the new continuous crossing.
- Install a new zebra crossing with dropped kerbs and tactile on Widcombe Hill, just west of the junction with The Tyning, to slow approaching vehicles and improve the safety of people crossing the road.
- Move the existing bus stop on Widcombe Hill to the west of the junction with Church Street to improve visibility of the zebra crossing. This would require the removal of approximately two on-street parking spaces.
- Maintain the set of bollards on either side of St Thomas à Becket Church and Widcombe Manor which is already in place to prevent drivers from using Church Street as a through-route. The bollards can be removed by the emergency services and for access to the church, and access to properties is maintained from either side of the restriction.
Learn more about continuous crossings
Signage
The potential location of signage alerting road users to these new proposals will be included in detailed designs.
Download a leaflet explaining the aims of this LN and showing the proposals on a map.
Have your say
You can submit your feedback by completing the online form below.
You will need to provide your email address at the end of the survey. Responding to a questionnaire should take no more than 5 or 10 minutes. Please submit your feedback by 28 February 2025.
What happens next
We have already obtained funding from the UK Government (secured by the West of England Combined Authority) to install these improvements.
This follows several years of engagement and consultation with the community and rigorous shortlisting.
You can find more detail on how we developed this design by reading the 'Explore the context’ section on this web page.
Our intention is to:
- consider your feedback on these proposals
- draw up and publish more detailed designs
- inform residents and invite further feedback
- make any necessary amendments
- install the measures under standard Traffic Regulation Orders (where appropriate)
We will keep residents in the LN area (and neighbouring streets) informed of our progress by letter.
Traffic Regulation Orders
Find out more about how we decide on changes to road layouts using Traffic Regulation Orders.
Get in touch
We will collect your feedback using the online form on this webpage. However, if you require any help or support with the form, please email us at LNs@bathnes.gov.uk or call 01225 39 40 25 and request a call back from a team member.
Explore further context
Please expand the following headings to learn more about how we developed this design:
- In Autumn 2020, we asked residents across the district how they felt about LNs.
- View the consultation output report from January 2022.
- 48 communities then applied to become a LN, via ward councillors.
- You can request to view the original application for an LN for your area by emailing LNs@bathnes.gov.uk (the format cannot be made accessible for this web page).
- In June 2021, we prioritised areas where development of LNs could start (this included the Church Street and Prior Park Road area).
In December 2021, we asked for your feedback on what was good about the Church Street and Prior Park Road area, what transport-related issues you experience, and what improvements would make the most impact.
Out of the 1,625 responses submitted as part of our area-wide public engagement in December 2021, 92 people commented on the Church Street and Prior Park Road area.
Below is a summary of what people said about the Church Street and Prior Park Road area:
What is good about the area?
- 66 said 'strong community spirit'
- 64 said 'close to shops and services'
- 14 said 'public transport links'
What issues are experienced?
- 76 said 'through traffic'
- 64 said school run traffic'
- 58 said 'speeding traffic'
- 26 said 'not enough space for wheeling, walking or cycling'
- 24 said 'parking'
- 24 said 'idling vehicles'
What measures could improve the area?
- 78 said 'a restriction on through traffic or HGVs'
- 26 said 'new pedestrian crossings'
- 25 said 'new or wider footways'
- 22 said 'new or improved cycle lanes'
- 15 said 'spaces to sit'
On 8 June 2022, we held a co-design workshop with 62 residents who had expressed an interest in staying involved in the process during earlier engagement.
Attendees took part in a series of exercises to identify what they liked about the area, what could be improved, and what specific measures could help, plotting these on a map of the area.
To see the maps and the longlist of ideas suggested by the community, please view the report below.
Our partner Sustrans helped to broaden our engagement by involving people in the community with different and seldom-heard voices. During co-design, they visited community groups to gather their feedback.
View the Sustrans workshop report.
In August 2022, attendees were invited back to review the outcomes of the workshop and prioritise their ideas, focusing on the original application area. These priorities were considered during later shortlisting to reach the final proposals.
During the first half of 2023, we considered the community proposals for the area against a range of criteria, working alongside local ward councillors to arrive at initial recommendations.
We scored proposals against set criteria to assess impacts.
View the early draft recommendation report (superseded by the Full Business Case proposal)
To secure the funds to install the LN programme it was necessary to submit a Full Business Case (FBC) to the West of England Combined Authority.
This involved appraising all early recommendations for each of the LN areas against the following criteria, to produce a final shortlist:
- Technical feasibility
- Alignment with the objectives of Liveable Neighbourhoods and community benefits
- Affordability/budget constraints
The shortlist was submitted to the West of England Combined Authority in a Full Business Case to be reviewed by its committee. The funding was secured on 20 September 2024.
View the press release on securing the grant from the FBC.
The Committee's report on the FBC is on page 45 of the Agenda Report Pack which includes a link to the Liveable Neighbourhood Full Business Case.
The proposals for the Church Street and Prior Park Road area shortlisted for the FBC are presented in ‘Our Proposals’ on this web page.
Liveable Neighbourhood project timeline
You can view a history of the development of Liveable Neighbourhoods and relevant reports on our project timeline.
To stay up to date with the project, you can:
- subscribe to our newsletter
- follow us on X (Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram.