North Way - Update

Following numerous requests and meetings with the Council I am pleased to see the 2 largest potholes have finally been repaired.

The big hole at the top of the hill was repaired last month as well, which at least makes the road a little safer for people to use, however, I will continue to push for the whole of this road to be restructured as soon as the funds are put into the budget.

We are also working hard to get all the roads across our area fully repaired and safe for all road users.  

If you have any issues on your street that you want to make us aware of, please do get in touch.

Safer Roads - Kelston View - Progress at last

Following the recent complaints raised and meetings that Local Campaigner Sarah Moore and Councillor Tim Ball have had with both Officers and Directors from Bath & North East Somerset concerning the poor state of repair of some of the roads across the area we have received the following response:

"The Principle Engineer Highway Maintenance has visited the site and identified a section of the carriageway at Kelston View Road that requires reconstruction and a section that is suitable for an overlay as part of a trial to improve the ride quality.  The general condition of most of the slabs is good but we will address the particularly bad section as part of next year's Structural maintenance programme."

They also stated:  "As Highway Authority, it is our duty to maintain the highway for road users legally entitled to use the road."

Current condition of mid section of North Way

Whilst we are pleased our campaign appears to have made significant progress, we will not be reducing the pressure we are applying on the council until all poorly maintained roads across the area have actually been sorted.

If you have an issue in your street, please do get in touch with us.

Safer Roads - Latest

Councillor Tim Ball and I today met with the Divisional Director for Environmental Services, together with her colleague to further discuss the state of the roads in Twerton.

Whilst we were meeting, they were both shocked by the high number of large busses that use our roads and were not aware of the considerable number that travel these badly damaged roads often either empty or with just a couple of passengers.

It was agreed that we will be looking at 2 key things, the cause of the rapid decline in the condition of our roads and how the roads can be repaired.

Tim and I have already had discussions with FirstBus who have agreed to attend 2 meetings in September for residents to come along to and have their say on what sort of bus service we would all like to cover this area.  As soon as the locations for these meetings have been confirmed, we will circulate this around the whole area to ensure as many residents can attend.

We have asked the Council to prioritise North Way as an urgent need to totally repair this road, not just lay tarmac on top of the considerable damage that is there.  Then moving onto Kelston View and then other roads across this area to ensure they are all brought up to a standard that we can use safely. 

We understand there has been no money put aside in the budget for any of this work, however, this will now be fully costed with a view to get the work into the future road repair budgets and get the work completed.

We will continue to push for this work until we get the outcome we need and will not drop this until the work has been completed. 

Safer Roads - UPDATE

Further to some of our recent blogs, we are pleased to confirm BANES Council are finally starting to listen.

Cllr Ball & Sarah Moore at Junction of  Kelston View & North Way

We have had meetings with members of the Highways team and the Cabinet Member for Highways and as you will see from the image below, some of the "potholes" are being finally repaired.

Junction of Kelston View & North Way today

However, this is only the start, we have had confirmation that some sections of the roads in the area are not able to be "patched" but will  need to have a more costly repair.  Councillor Tim Ball and I have further meetings arranged to discuss what options are available for these roads, including a meeting with the Divisional Director for Environmental Services at BANES.

Linked with this issue is the increased number of large busses that are running through the area, whilst we welcome the options of a greater bus service, it needs to be affordable and relevant for the needs of residents to encourage better usage.  There are over 100 busses a day running through the Twerton area and most of these have only a handful of residents on them.

We have a meeting arranged with the Managing Director of FirstBus in July at which we will be discussing issues such as the size of busses, the routes the busses travel, frequency of the busses and importantly the fares that are being charged.

We will be updating you more following the meetings

by
Sarah Moore
Local Campaigner

Safer Roads - Now

Yesterday morning, Sarah Moore and several residents met with Councillor Tim Ball and Councillor Anthony Clarke (BANES Cabinet Member for Transport) to discuss the state of the roads specifically on Kelston View and North Way and request that action is taken to address the extremely poor state of these roads.

Sarah Moore with Councillor Ball on the junction of
Kelston View & North Way

They walked around the area showing exactly how bad these road have got and also discussing the issues caused with the increased bus usage late into the night.  They pointed out that too many residents are being disturbed by the noise that it is unacceptable to just leave the situation as it is.

Councillor Clarke has agreed to discuss the issues with the Highways Department and come back with options and timescales.  

In the meantime, Sarah Moore has launched a petition to ensure this is not just ignored. Please take time to sign on-line here, or if you prefer, a paper copy is available for signature. The petition is to request action is taken on all roads across the South West of Bath, not just the 2 specific one mentioned previously, so it will affect a number of people across the area.

Kelston View

We have asked for the Junction of Wedgewood Road and Kelston View to be resurfaced as soon possible.

The picture shows the poor condition of the road surface some of this caused by the excessive poor weather that we have been having.

As this is a major bus route we hope that this will be quickly resolved.

Highland Road

I have asked the Council to ensure that the pot hole outside of 25 Highland Road to be filled in as soon as possible.

I have also asked the council to investigate why after residents reported this over two months ago that  a bollard was placed over the hole and it still has not been filled in.

Poolemead Road

It is good to see that the pot holes that we have asked to be repaired on Poolemead Road have at last been filled in.

If you know of any pot holes that need to be filled in please let us know.

By Cllr Tim Ball

Pot Holes Twerton High Street

I have asked for the dangerous Pot Hole in Twerton High Street just up from the Old Crown Public House to be filled in as soon as possible.

The Pot Hole is seen as holding quite a bit of water as some unsuspecting motorists found out in the rain the other day.

By Cllr Tim Ball

Kelston View

By Tim Ball

I have asked for the pot holes on Kelston View to be repaired.

I have also asked tha the rocking slab opposite 99 Kelston View is attended to that rocks each time that a bus runs over it.

Pot Holes & Road signs

We have again asked the council to repair the depression outside 35 Cameley Green.

We have told the council that we consider that this is dangerous and in need of urgent repair.

We have also again reminded them of the need to replace the road sign behind 78 Cameley green.