It was recently announced that the Highways Agency plans to close the A36 between Brassknocker Hill and Hantone Hill over the Spring, to enable essential structural maintenance work to take place on a section of the road that has developed cracks.
While such a lengthy closure of a major road will inevitably cause significant and unwelcome disruption to many, it does provide an opportunity for monitoring to take place of the flow of traffic during the closure period.
I have long taken the view that the natural route for HGVs travelling to and from the south coast should not be via the A36, but should instead be by more appropriate routes such as the A350 or even the A346 further east.
Only recently, B&NES made a failed attempt at implementing a weight restriction on the A36 aimed at discouraging large lorries from using Bath as a through-route.
This laudable initiative was unsuccessful because of a lack of consultation and engagement with neighbouring Wiltshire and Somerset councils, who objected to the plan due to fears over routes displaced lorries would take.
However, as we are now faced with a compulsory closure of part of the A36, this provides a golden opportunity for B&NES, alongside Wiltshire and Somerset councils, to conduct a study of HGV movements which monitors their number, weight, direction, and destination.
This study can then form part of an evidence-base which can definitively answer the question of which routes HGVs will follow, if they are unable to travel through Bath on the A36.
Perhaps then, using this fresh evidence-base, B&NES could seek to implement a new measure that would relieve the misery of HGVs blighting the lives of so many residents in Bath, Claverton, Bathampton and many other surrounding villages.
Councillor Martin Veal Conservative, Bathavon North Bannerdown Drive Batheaston Bath
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