RESIDENTS say they were not consulted about new double yellow lines near Keynsham’s recycling centre.
Bath and North East Somerset Council has introduced the parking restrictions as the town’s new recycling hub takes shape.
They include double yellow lines along a section of Pixash Lane which some people living nearby on the busy A4 Bath Road have been using for parking.
One of them, Louise (who asked us not to use her surname), accused B&NES Council of being underhand.
She says she only learned about the proposed restrictions through a local councillor, who also told her the deadline for objections had passed.
When she emailed B&NES Council asking why residents had not been informed, she was told the council had notified residents by putting notices on lampposts in the areas and through a notice published in the Western Daily Press.
Louise said: “So the council place the proposal in a newspaper that is not local to us. This is lack of transparency.
“Yet the council have been able to send us residents plenty of letters through the post for numerous applications for erections of buildings within the new recycling centre – but not about the parking. This has been completely underhand by the council.”
She added: “I walk along Pixash Lane daily, and over the past two years any notice that has been tied to the lampposts has not been one of any traffic proposals. How can the council get away with this?”
The council’s email to Louise said: “It is evident that vehicles parking on both sides of Pixash Lane and on the pavement in front of the care home is currently causing access and safety issues.”
It added: “Resident parking is not part of the scope of the scheme.”
But Louise questioned why resident parking had not been factored in and was also critical of the inclusion of a short cycle path in the scheme.
“It just doesn’t make sense, and if we had the opportunity to hold a meeting with the council, then together we could have all come up with sensible solutions for Pixash Lane without causing this amount of concern for residents.”
Hal McFie, a B&NES ward councillor for Keynsham East, who has been trying to arrange a meeting between concerned residents and the council, said he was “very disappointed” that the parking restrictions had been introduced before talks could take place.
In an email to the council, Councillor McFie said: “None of the residents report seeing a notice pinned to the posts nearby.”
In an email to the council, Councillor McFie said: “None of the residents report seeing a notice pinned to the posts nearby.”
He added: “It appears that you are just forging ahead without proper engagement to deal with a group that has suffered from having two large building projects within 70 metres of their homes and has not been properly consulted.
“And in doing this you have ignored the request for a single yellow line which it is blindingly obvious is a more desirable and reasonable option than double yellows.
“The main consequence of this will be that residents, and visitors to residents, will park on the A4, holding up the traffic which is 20 times busier than that going down Pixash Lane.
“I repeat my request for a residents’ meeting and for a single yellow line instead of the double yellows.”
Louise, who agrees that single yellows would be a better solution, said residents on the Bath Road now face the prospect of paying for dropped kerbs so they can park at the front of their homes. But she said a neighbour has told her that previous applications for dropped kerbs nearby have been rejected by B&NES Council on safety grounds
She said: “I am not only upset by the lack of communication by B&NES but that now the only place we have to park is being taking away from us.”
The parking ban follows a long period of disruption for residents that began with the building of the nearby
Meryton Place care home.
Louise said: “Over the past two years, parking has been atrocious – work vans, lorries parked up along both sides of Pixash Lane, most days on the double yellow lines that are either side of the private lane us residents use to gain access to the back of our houses.”
Louise has also written to local MP Jacob Rees-Mogg asking for his help. He replied that he has made representations to B&NES Council on her behalf and will contact her again once he has received a response.
A B&NES Council spokesperson said: “We’ve offered to meet residents once the works on World’s End Lane have been completed and we’ve had reasonable time to monitor traffic safety. The double yellow lines were put in under a TRO (Traffic Regulation Order) to provide road safety and were consulted on as part of the planning process. Any change to the TRO would be subject to a review, monitoring and due consideration to safety.”
The council asks residents with enquiries connected to Keynsham Recycling Hub to email krhub@bathnes.gov.uk.