Lower Lansdown and The Circus Liveable Neighbourhood – call-in outcome

A decision to make three, linked experimental through-traffic restrictions in Lower Lansdown and The Circus permanent has been upheld by a panel of councillors. 

A specially-convened meeting of Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Climate Emergency and Sustainability Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel met yesterday (23 February 2026) to review a Single Member Decision (SMD) taken by Councillor Joel Hirst, cabinet member for Sustainable Transport Strategy and Councillor Manda Rigby, cabinet member for Communications and Communities, that the linked trials in Upper Gay Street, Cavendish Road and Winifred Lane be made permanent.

Any nine councillors – not in the council’s cabinet – can request that a Single Member Decision is reconsidered pending a hearing by the relevant council scrutiny panel. This process is referred to as a ‘call-in’. Following the call-in, the panel may decide to uphold the original decision, or the decision-makers may be asked to reconsider the original decision or bring the issue to full Council.

Nine councillors requested a call-in of this decision and the Climate Emergency and Sustainability Policy Development and Scrutiny panel met to determine it.

The panel heard from residents and councillors with a range of views on the scheme. The panel voted to dismiss the call-in with the result that the decision takes effect immediately and officers are now free to implement the Traffic Regulation Order process to make the schemes permanent.  

Councillor Joel Hirst, cabinet member for Sustainable Transport Strategy, said: “We have appreciated this opportunity to prove that our experimental traffic regulation order (ETRO) consultation and our decision-making was robust and conducted appropriately. We have thoroughly reviewed all the evidence collected during the trial period– which was extensive – and listened to a wide range of views from residents for and against the scheme. It’s clear that the trial has been a success, with less traffic across the whole of the Lower Lansdown and The Circus area, no significant impact on travel times or air quality, and an uplift in active travel.”

Councillor Manda Rigby, cabinet member for Communications and Community added, “We recognise that there is a wide range of views on this trial, and more specifically the Winifred’s Lane element. But we reached our original decision by considering objections alongside the evidence, the overall aims of the scheme, and our own policies on active and sustainable travel. This was an opportunity for views to be aired and fully considered in public, and for our processes to be scrutinised by the panel. Considering this, I am delighted that our decision to make the trials permanent has been upheld. Councillor Hirst and I did not take the decision lightly. We considered an extensive body of evidence and heard a wide range of views over a significant period of time. In the end, we took a balanced and reasonable decision.”  

More information about the scheme, a link to the webcast of the scrutiny hearing, and the decision making process can be found on the council’s website: https://democracy.bathnes.gov.uk/mgIssueHistoryHome.aspx?IId=41914&Opt=0

Original press release by Bath and North East Somerset Council