Council to reconsider controversial A370 bus lane

A planned bus lane which caused "fear and anger" in a village is set to be reconsidered by the local council.

North Somerset Council planned to install the bus lane on the A370 through Backwell, which would have included moving a bus stop and removing guardrails.

At a council committee meeting on 27 May, Jeff Wells of Backwell Residents Association said removing the railings would be "extremely dangerous."

The council argued the new lane would reduce bus journey times between Bristol and Weston-super-Mare, but some councillors warned that spending £2.2m on the 206 metre-long bus lane was a waste of public funds.

"Lack of information for Backwell has created suspicion and a lot of fear and anger," Mr Wells warned.

The bus lane was proposed to run west along the A370 for 260 metres, up to the crossroads with Station Road/Dark Lane, the Local Democracy Reporting Service was told.

Calling on the council to withdraw the plans, Conservative councillor Michael Pryke compared the bus lane to the Clevedon Seafront debacle "but with a much higher chance of fatalities".

"The scheme is prepared to put lives at risk, damage everything that works well, for a bus lane that will increase journey times at a huge financial cost to the public," he added.

Currently the X1 - North Somerset's most-used bus with 142,000 passengers a month - takes one hour 40 minutes to get from Weston-super-Mare to Bristol during the morning rush hour.

Council cabinet member for highways and transport Hannah Young said that with one bus running every 15 minutes, this meant 14 buses had to be in use to run the service in peak travelling hours.

She said: "I don't believe that we can afford to let buses that people need just get stuck in traffic to a point where they become the last choice for everyone."

If five minutes can be shaved off the round trip time along the A370 corridor, she said the route could be run with one fewer bus, saving the bus operator £300k a year.

Councillors on the committee voted 6-2 to support the call-in and ask the council to reconsider the plans.

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