Bus lane roadworks start before public gets a say

Council officers have apologised after jumping the gun on a controversial bus lane in Bath.

Roadworks which were started by mistake before people living nearby had been given a chance to comment on the plans have now been suspended at Wellsway.

Workmen started digging up part of the A367 road for a proposed bus lane and new signalling system near its junction with Hatfield Road last month.

Residents who had known the scheme was in the offing had expressed concern and been promised that no work would begin before a formal consultation process had been completed.

Emily Massey, who has recently moved into the area, said although work had now been halted, a considerable amount had been done.

She said: "They have indeed stopped work, but not before they had completed moving the central reservation and installing an island.

"They have also introduced double yellows along approximately half of the southbound carriageway."

Mrs Massey is convinced the scheme will go ahead in its entirety.

She said: "Once the bus lane is introduced we will lose all of the parking on the northbound carriageway."

Mrs Massey said the situation would be aggravated by the completion of work on four new homes – where council planners rejected the idea of integral garages because they had said there was "ample" kerbside parking.

She added: "So, we lose 75 per cent of our parking space, and get more cars, a new queue into Bath for no apparent reason, another set of ugly traffic lights and the taxpayer gets the bill for 100 metres of totally ineffective bus lane, so that all the traffic can join the next queue at Bear Flat. It's absolutely pointless meddling and incredibly maddening."

A spokeswoman for Bath and North East Somerset Council apologised for the error and said a new traffic regulation order had been made allowing people to give their opinions about the plans from today to August 19.

She said: "We can confirm that work began on the Wellsway bus lane before the formal consultation period ended – this was the result of an administrative error on the part of the council and we apologise for this.

"The consultation now under way is the formal process to ensure that the orders needed for the new layout are legal and enforceable, and follows extensive consultation with local residents which has been ongoing since 2008.

"The proposed layout has been developed as a result of comments from local residents during that period.

"Work has now stopped and no further work will take place until the statutory consultation process ends when we will address any objections received.

"We are now reviewing our internal procedures to ensure this doesn't happen again."