PLANNING and TRANSPORT

PLANNING

The BFA will consult with you and make representation on your behalf to the various planning issues that come up in our area.

The Planning & Transport Group comments on a range of regional and local planning documents, a recent example being B&NES Council’s Placemaking Plan – a document produced to set out how the area should be protected and developed. A copy of the BFA response can be found here.

Under Planning Issues you will find links so you can make your own comments on specific planning issues.

Conservation Area

The BFA also promotes the protection of the amenities of Bear Flat and suggests improvements. In an unusual partnership, Bath and North East Somerset Council commissioned BFA to produce a character appraisal for Bear Flat and Oldfield Park, and that study – one of a series about the Bath Conservation Area – is now on the Council web site where it can influence planning applications and policy. To read more about this, please visit our new Conservation Area Character Appraisal page.

The Draft Bear Flat and Oldfield Park Character Appraisal and others in the series can be found via beta . bathnes . gov . uk/view-conservation-character-appraisals

Planning Issues

January 2022: We objected (successfully!) to plans to change the colour of the bear over the door to The Bear. Read more

The Gore Garden Project

Visit this page for information on the BFA’s Gore Garden Project.

TRANSPORT

Our area is on a radial commuter route from the south into the city, leading to heavy peak time traffic and associated commuter parking. It also has significant traffic flows associated with school runs to Beechen Cliff School. The BFA therefore takes a close interest in the traffic situation and is in touch with Councillors and Council officials on a range of issues. BFA also seeks to promote walking and cycling and to encourage the use of public transport.

Information at Bath Bus Station

BFA has taken up the issue of poor information at the Bus Station. Since the bus stop for Bear Flat was shifted to Broad Quay, it is difficult to see when and where the next bus goes to Bear Flat – since our buses our not included in the electronic board, and you can’t watch board (for a long distance bus e.g. Wells that also stops at Bear Flat) and the stop round the corner for our local service! Illogically, no information is offered for bus stops outside the bus station building. BFA have raised the wider matter of poor information, writing to First Bus, with copies to WECA and B&NES. Our letter is here.

For further detailed information, follow these links to our dedicated pages:

Parking including the latest on the RPZ and other parking issues

Residents’ Parking Zone Our dedicated page on the Residents’ Parking Zone introduced in April 2019.

Air Quality The Bath Clean Air Zone was introduced in March 2021.

Travel information (external links)

Information about travel in our area can be found on the TravelWest site: ‘Travel in the West of England made simple’. Of particular interest will be: