Important notice on this trial
At the end of January 2024, the Cabinet Member for Highways took the decision to start the formal Traffic Regulation Order process to permanently adopt this scheme. This decision was called-in for further consideration at the Climate Emergency and Sustainability Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel on Monday 19 February. At the meeting, the panel resolved to dismiss the call-in.
This trial will now become permanent subject to the formal Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) process. We will continue to update this page with matters concerning the final design of the scheme. We will also inform residents by letter in due course.
Please view the decision notice on the council’s democratic services page (using the link below) for more information.
Why are we consulting
We are inviting residents to give feedback on a new through-traffic restriction which we are trialling in Southlands, Weston, Bath. The scheme will be formally enforced from 17 November 2022 and in place for a minimum of six months.
We are installing the trial under an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO), which means that you can experience the scheme in-situ before submitting your comments on how it is working. Installation work will start on the week beginning 28 November 2022.
You can submit feedback during the trial using the online form. After six months, we will ask for more detailed feedback on the scheme in a separate survey.
We will then analyse all of the feedback we’ve received before deciding whether to remove it or make the restriction permanent.
This trial is the first in a range of improvements for the area under the community-led Liveable Neighbourhoods programme
Purpose of the scheme
Southlands will be trialled as a ‘no through route’ for a minimum of six months to prevent motorists from using it as an inappropriate shortcut between Penn Hill Road and the High Street/Lansdown Lane.
The aim is to create a safer, healthier environment for those that live on Southlands, and encourage more walking, cycling, and playing outside.
The scheme does not restrict vehicle access to homes, but it may require drivers to take alternative routes.
Restriction details
A modal filter - in this case a set of temporary, wooden planters - will be placed on the road outside nos. 126 and 128 Southlands (near the cul-de-sac) to allow pedestrians, cyclists, people with pushchairs and those driving mobility scooters to pass through, but not unauthorised vehicles.
We are putting an ETRO in place to assess your feedback about the impact of the trial.
The existing disabled parking bay in this area will be repositioned slightly to the southeast and double yellow lines will be provided on either side of the planters.
This will create space for vehicles to turn around and exit Southlands using the same route they used to enter (via Penn Hill Road or Lansdown Lane/the High Street).
We will be in touch with community members to discuss how the ornamental planters will be managed.
Alternative routes
We will provide advance warning signs to alert motorists that they will not be able to use Southlands as a through route.
Residents and visitors to homes northwest of the modal filter can drive into Southlands via Lansdown Lane/the High Street. Those living in or visiting homes southeast of the filter can enter via Penn Hill Road.
The emergency services and other key services have been made aware of the access and exit routes.
Turning space for vehicles is being created so that vehicles can exit Southlands using the same route they used to enter.
Alternative routes are shown in the map below:
Previous public engagement
This is one of three ETROs for through-traffic restriction trials across Bath and North East Somerset which we are implementing ahead of wider improvements under the community-led Liveable Neighbourhoods (LN) programme. The trial was brought forward by ward councillors on behalf of residents who had identified through-traffic and anti-social driving as an issue during a consultation on Liveable Neighbourhoods in December 2021.
In August 2022, we asked whether you supported a trial of a through-traffic restriction at this location and gathered feedback from the community on a preliminary design.
We also consulted with key stakeholders such as the emergency services, waste, and highways during this engagement to ensure these services were accommodated if the trial proceeded.
Read the engagement feedback report and the single member decision
Have your say
After six months (the minimum trial period), residents will be given the option to complete a more detailed survey about the through-traffic restriction having experienced it.
Residents in Southlands and in neighbouring areas will be notified in writing about the survey. We also hope to hold an event to discuss your experiences in person.
Monitoring
During one week in October 2022 (before the trial), we monitored walking, cycling and vehicular traffic levels on roads around Southlands.
Before the detailed survey, we will do the same exercise to understand how traffic flows have changed. We will compare and interpret both sets of data.
We will publish the final monitoring results on our website, and these will inform any decision to permanently adopt the scheme.
What happens next
We will consider all feedback before we decide whether to permanently adopt the scheme or remove it. We will take the following into account:
- Comments received during the trial
- Outcome of the detailed survey
- Monitoring data
We aim to make the decision as soon as possible after the survey closes and all of the feedback has been analysed.
The decision and a consultation output report will be published on this website and we will inform residents of the outcome by letter.
Contact us
If you require urgent support or information about the trial in another format including audio, braille, large print or in another language, please contact the Liveable Neighbourhoods team quoting ‘Through-traffic restriction at Southlands’.
You can contact the team by emailing LNPilots@bathnes.gov.uk, or by calling 01225 394 025
View ETRO documents
ETRO documentation consists of 3 documents:
- A summary of the proposed Order
- A report which shows the decisions behind the Order
- A notice and mapping, showing where the Order will apply, and the legal wording (the notice will include blanks for dates and signatories, which will be completed if the Order is approved and implemented)
- View a summary of the ETRO
- View the ETRO report part 1
- View the ETRO report part 2
- View the ETRO layout on a map
- View the ETRO parking restrictions on a map
To find out more about ETROs you can expand the sections below
Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) and Experimental Traffic Regulation Orders (ETROs) are the legal documents that restrict or prohibit use of the highway network. They help manage the highway network for all road users, including pedestrians, and they aim to improve road safety and access to facilities.
We can use permanent or temporary TROs and ETROs to manage on-street parking, to ensure that this is fair to all road users, and the way that we control and enforce regulations is transparent.
For permanent changes to traffic regulation, we generally only introduce a TRO or ETRO following a period of research, consultation and discussion of proposals, leading to a decision. We invite members of the public, experts, and councillors to contribute to that discussion, and our Director of Place Management makes the final decision.
The TRO is issued when we are preparing to implement regulations. We are legally obliged to advertise all TROs and give the public an opportunity to state their support or objection to them. These comments will be publicly available after the TRO consultation.
The final decision to implement new regulations will be made after the TRO consultation. Once a TRO is sealed, or becomes official council policy, we publish it permanently on our website. It then normally takes a short period for the new regulations to come into force.