GP surgery raises concerns over proposed bus gate

A GP surgery says plans to install a bus gate next to it risks making it more difficult for elderly patients to get to their appointments.

Fairfield Park Health Centre in Bath, which has about 14,000 patients on its books, said it has "grave concern" over plans to install a bus gate on Camden Road at the junction with Tyning Road.

The proposal is aimed at reducing traffic, speeding, and congestion in residential areas.

The bus gate proposal is part of Bath and North East Somerset Council's Liveable Neighbourhood Programme

In a post on its Facebook page, the health centre said while it supports the concept of liveable neighbourhoods it "completely opposes" the current plans as they are "poorly thought-out" and may impact access to the surgery.

"The consequences of strangling traffic around ill-equipped and very steep, cramped side-streets seem obvious," the post said.

"It will affect staff, elderly and infirm patients needing taxis, ambulances, couriers, and emergency call-outs."

The plans have also drawn criticism from local residents, with 1,731 people signing a petition against them.

Camden resident Charlotte Rudolph, who started the petition, described the move as "unworkable", reported the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Local Green Party councillor Joanna Wright, a former Liberal Democrat cabinet member who wrote the council's liveable neighbourhood policy, has also criticised the plans.

"You are forcing traffic up and down one of the steepest hills in Bath which is densely populated," she said.

"And then you are pushing all that traffic down through Snow Hill, through one of the poorest residential areas in Bath, so that wealthier people at the top don't have any traffic."

The council said the Camden Road gate would be part of the London Road and Snow Hill Liveable Neighbourhood, which has not yet been introduced.

Public engagement for five other liveable neighbourhoods will begin soon.

A spokesperson for the council said the programme aims to "reduce the impacts associated with excessive traffic" and "create environments where it is safer and more attractive to walk, wheel and cycle."

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