A petition objecting to the controversial Bus Rapid Transit system planned for Bath will be handed over at a council meeting tonight.

Readers of the Chronicle's website have delivered an overwhelming thumbs-down to plans for the Bus Rapid Transit route across Bath.

Some 81 per cent of the 2,310 people taking part in an online poll were opposed to the plan which would involve buses taking people in and out of the city centre from park and ride sites on the east and west of Bath.

The £16 million Bus Rapid Transit scheme would involve the loss of more than 50 on-street parking spaces, and parts of six gardens and five business premises in Newbridge.

Part of the route will be along a mile-long stretch of disused railway line between Brassmill Lane and Windsor Bridge Road.

The scheme is a key plank of Bath and North East Somerset Council's Government-backed package of proposals to tackle congestion in the city.

The council meets at 6.30pm tonight to discuss a move by opposition Liberal Democrats to put the brakes on the whole of the Bath Transport Package.

The anti-BRT Response2Route group will stage a protest on the steps of the Guildhall ahead of the meeting and hand over a petition to the ruling cabinet on the council.

Spokeswoman Jo McCarron welcomed the result of what is the Chronicle's most heavily-subscribed web poll ever.

She said: "This is a good result and seems to reflect what we have found when we have been out collecting signatures for our petition.

"It was an online vote but I'm sure even more people would have contributed if they had known about it. It's good to know that the public are with us."

This week a new map was launched by B&NES on its website aimed at showing people how the scheme and the rest of its £60 million plans.

A planning application will have to be submitted for the BRT before it can be built.

A council spokesman said: "The fact some Bath Chronicle readers oppose the Bus Rapid Transit scheme is nothing new.

"However, the result is at odds with the positive feedback the council is receiving through independent business groups, like the Chamber of Commerce, and independent transport groups, like the Campaign for Better Transport amongst many others.

"Local people have had numerous opportunities to express their views on the council's proposed improvements, and will have another through the planning application process.

"The council must get on with the job of delivering the £60 million of transport improvements for the area, otherwise there is a risk residents, businesses, and visitors will lose investment for expanded park and ride, better bus routes, and measures to enhance the pedestrian environment."

The BRT is backed by the public-public sector think tank the Initiative for B&NES, whose chairman Colin Skellett said there was "widespread support in the business community for the planned improvements."

However traders in London Road and Walcot Street - where BRT buses will run - say the plan will take their customers away.

Martin Tracy, owner of the Framing Workshop in Walcot Street, said: "We don't need any more buses - they are obtrusive, noisy, dirty and faster than anything else.

"What concerns us most is that Walcot Street is quite fragile. There is limited on-street parking already and most of that is taken up by residents' parking.

"It is increasingly difficult for people to get to us. We do need access to the city but we can't disturb that fragility or we are going to suffer.

"There is concern about a lack of information and dialogue. It seems the council are just going through the motions like they did with the bus gate and it will all be done and dusted before it gets into the public arena."

"We need to be taken seriously. Some of us have been here for 20 years."

Bath MP Don Foster added his support to the opposition but said a plan was needed to tackle congestion.

He said: "I think it is very clear from this result that the council has failed to handle this issue sensibly.

"By their own admission there has been no detailed analysis and they had failed to consult the public adequately on the details of the scheme.

"While we need to move ahead and tackle the city's transport problems, we need to look at alternative routes so that a reasonable decision can be made.

"If the council don't consider the opinions of the people of Bath, they are not doing their job properly."