On 28th January 2020, two of our Committee members, Robin Kerr (Chair) and Rachael Hushon (Recycling and Rubbish, FOBRA and Neighbourhood Watch) attended a meeting at the Guildhall .
Here is their report
Bill and Ben set to return soon
Our friendly rams, Bill and Ben, will soon return to the field for a well-earned rest, once the grass has grown sufficiently.
Consultation – LCA Response - November 2019
The council are undergoing the final stage of consultation for the clean air zone for Bath. This proposal has implications for Lansdown Crescent.
The council are proposing to introduce a class C CAZ with a traffic light intervention at Queen Square - traffic lights which sense NO2 levels at Gay street and subsequently control flows in and out of Queen Square. The unfortunate consequence of this option is that there is predicted to be displacement of traffic along Marlborough buildings and Cavendish road. Page 13 of the consultation leaflet (see link) details the displacement they expect: https://www.bathnes.gov.uk/bath-breathes-2021-overview
LCA are concerned that this will further increase rat-running along our Crescent, as much of Cavendish Road’s traffic impacts on Lansdown Crescent. We have worked with Cavendish Road, Cavendish Crescent and Saint James’s Square Associations and asked the Council to put in place measures to mitigate this displacement and hinder rat running in our area and along our Crescent.
LCA supports the CAZ. If the Class C CAZ doesn’t meet targets for environmental compliance then we shall support the Council in a switch to a Class D CAZ. We urge you to voice your concerns about the Queen Square intervention and the impact on Lansdown Crescent, by participating in the questionnaire https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ZJB7CHT.
Lastly, we shall be organising a meeting in the coming weeks to discuss how we can cut rat running on our Crescent (See below).
Clean Air Zone Consultation LCA Response - Meeting at St Stephen’s Church Foyer
- 7pm to 8pm, Friday 8th November 2019
The Council’s consultation for the Clean Air Charging zone for Bath has now finished. We await the results to be published soon.
Our Chairman, Robin Kerr, with Nick Bishop and Rachael Hushon participated in several meetings with the Councillors in charge of the introduction of the scheme as well as our Ward Councillors to ensure that the implications for Lansdown Crescent area were properly considered and any negative impacts were mitigated.
Most importantly for our area are the possible displacement effects which the traffic interventions at Queen Square are predicted to create via Cavendish Road (this is on top of the current rat running we already experience).
The Council are keen to help us protect Lansdown Crescent’s residential and tranquil nature (particularly given its special mention in Bath’s World Heritage Status) and are open to our becoming a Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) akin to the Royal Crescent. This would mean we would protect our Crescent and it would no longer be used as a rat run for speeding cars or a cut through for Coaches en route to the Royal Crescent; but LTNs have only one vehicle entrance.
In conjunction with our discussions, residents from St James Square, Cavendish Crescent, Sion Hill and Cavendish Road are also seeking ways to reduce the speedy and unsafe rat running on Cavendish Road whilst hoping to get low emission hopper buses introduced to serve Bath Spa Campus and local residents up to Sion Hill. We want to support them in this initiative.
We invite you to attend a meeting to discuss the issues. If however you can’t make the date detailed above please don’t hesitate to email or phone. For the purposes of collating feedback contact Rachael at (Rachael Hushon | Email) or on 07917 323442.
BBC reports on Clean Air Zone
Lorries on Pavements
We’d like to remind all residents to ensure that, whilst undertaking building work on their properties, they should ensure that trades people observe parking regulations. Recently we’ve had delivery and construction vehicles mounting the pavement on the Crescent and at Lansdown Place East (see picture) . This is illegal, is a danger to pedestrians and risks damaging both the pennant stone pavement; and, more worryingly, is a risk to the vaults below the pavement. Our committee will pass on photographs of any offending vehicles to parking enforcement and to our Councillors.
Width Restrictions
After a lot of negotiation with our council and councillors, we are pleased to report that our area is now subject to a width restriction. You may have noticed the signs, the last of which was put up on Friday 3 January. The effect of this will be to restrict entry to Lansdown Place East and West, and therefore the Crescent and Upper Lansdown Mews, to vehicles narrower than 2m (6’ 6”) other than for access. So no more tourist buses or lorries taking short cuts! Any such vehicle that disobeys these signs will have breached a traffic regulation order so will be liable to a fine
Scaffolding at rear of 8LC
Dear Resident
We are carrying out refurbishment work on 8 lansdown crescent, we will be having scaffolding put up on the rear of the building on Tuesday 4th feb, this will mean blocking upper lansdown mews out side the rear of the double gates which access 7 lansdown crescent, we will put signs up at each entrance to upper lansdown mews to warn people of this on the day.
On Wednesday 5th feb we will have the scaffolders working on the front part of building. We will suspend two parking bays outside number 8 to avoid them blocking any traffic.
We appreciate your patience while we carry out these works.
Josh - Foreman in charge of site works
