The Journey to Net Zero Plan brings together a huge variety of ideas, policies and projects on the theme of travel and transport. Use this page to better understand some of the newer ideas, and why we are looking at these now.
What it means
Liveable neighbourhoods mean safer, quieter and healthier outdoor spaces, designed to encourage people to move and spend time together outside. This includes better walking and cycling routes, and vibrant local high streets where people can relax outside and connect with others, without the hazards and pollution associated with vehicles.
Where the idea came from
Liveable neighbourhoods are not new. Communities around the world have successfully introduced these projects, to improve residential environments and solve traffic issues. Most of the UK's major cities have already delivered such projects, or have them in development. .
In Bath, our Liveable Neighbourhoods project combines strategies to reduce traffic and parking in residential areas, and improve facilities for electric vehicles.
How it might work
Liveable Neighbourhoods are always created collaboratively with communities, to turn streets that are noisy, polluted and dangerous into pleasant, safe places to live and work. We have already run two public engagements with local residents, and identified 15 areas for improvement, and more recently to crowdsource suggestions, in the first phase of projects. The upcoming co-design phase will be looking at projects ranging from traffic calming and improvements to pedestrian safety and providing accessible outside community space in urban areas.
Read more in the Journey to Net Zero Plan:
What it means
To create traffic cells, we would divide the city into segments (or cells), for the purposes of planning how motor traffic can move in central parts of Bath. Traffic cells mean that people travelling by car can only access the cell that they use to enter the city centre, whilst people walking, cycling and using public transport can freely move across all of the areas. This type of scheme is designed to remove unnecessary through traffic from our city centre and make it it a better place to walk and cycle in, as well as helping bus journey times.
Where the idea came from
We identify Ghent as a case study in the Journey to Net Zero Plan, as it is a city where similar schemes have been successful. It shows what can be achieved if cities restrict traffic movements, and reallocate more public space to walking, cycling and public.
We recognise of course that Bath and Ghent are very different cities, not least in the fact that Ghent is flatter. Any traffic cells scheme in Bath would need to be tailored to respond to our unique city and its characteristics, including our hills and heritage.
How it might work
We would need to do a lot of detailed work to develop the traffic cell idea further for Bath, as we don't want to see traffic being pushed onto residential roads. This would mean drawing up plans based on detailed traffic modelling. The traffic cells approach is at an early conceptual stage. If we progress this, there will be further consultations and opportunities for people to comment on these plans and shape how they are delivered, to ensure they work for our community.
We are currently working with local communities on 15 liveable neighbourhoods, and as we develop our approach to traffic cells in the city we may need to consider putting in place more of these.