New Sydney Place and Sydney Road

Update on New Sydney Place and Sydney Road

A through-traffic restriction trial on Sydney Road will be made permanent under a formal Traffic Regulation Order in the summer.

This trial was installed in April 2024 under an experimental traffic regulation order (ETRO) for a minimum of six months. During this time, we consulted the community and monitored the impacts on traffic and air quality.

Later in Spring 2025, our intention is to engage the community on other measures to complement the through-traffic restriction. These measures are outlined in the full business case for the programme, and we will update this web page when we begin the engagement.

Read the Liveable Neighbourhoods Full Business Case.

The New Sydney Place and Sydney Road area is one of the 15 areas in our community-led Liveable Neighbourhoods programme. New Sydney Place and Sydney Road are located approximately 0.6 miles north-east of Bath Spa train station.

About the programme

Liveable Neighbourhoods is a community-led programme that aims to improve residential streets and encourage safe, active and more sustainable forms of travel, such as walking, wheeling and cycling.

Typical improvements suggested by communities are: 

Better crossings, footways and cycle lanes to connect homes with shops, schools and community hubs 
Traffic-calming measures to tackle anti-social driving, speeding and inconsiderate parking
Pleasant places for people to sit and meet others outside

Find out more about LNs and their benefits

Our approach

Our role is to support communities to develop their own LNs, engaging with them at every stage of development. We want to hear from a diverse range of people to ensure the final designs meet everyone’s needs.  

Development of this LN

In Autumn 2020, we asked residents across the district how they felt about LNs, and 48 communities then applied to become a LN, via ward councillors.
In June 2021, we prioritised 15 areas where development of LNs could start (this included the New Sydney Place and Sydney Road area).
In December 2021, we asked for your feedback on what was good about the area, what transport-related issues you experience, and what improvements would make the most impact. 
In spring/summer 2022, we held a series of co-design workshops where residents suggested a range of measures to help (see Co-design outcomes below).
During 2022/23, we shortlisted residents’ suggestions against a range of technical criteria and prepared draft designs to be considered in a full business case from winter 2023/4.
In Autumn 2023, we announced a proposal to fast-track a through-traffic restriction trial on Sydney Road ahead of the wider programme (see below).

View our full project development timeline which includes links to the relevant reports.

Please expand the sections below to find out more.

Outcomes of the original engagement

Out of the 1,625 responses submitted as part of our public engagement in December 2021, 119 people commented on the New Sydney Place and Sydney Road area. Below is a summary of what people said:

What is good about the area?

75 said 'close to shops and services'
57 said 'strong community spirit'
38 said 'good accessibility, such as walking, wheeling and cycling'

What issues are experienced?

87 said 'through traffic'
77 said 'speeding traffic'
44 said 'parking'
59 said 'HGV traffic'
31 said 'space for wheeling, walking or cycling'
64 said 'school run traffic'

What measures could improve the area?

92 said 'a restriction on through traffic or HGVs'
26 said 'better or more residents parking'
17 said 'new or wider footways'
37 said 'new pedestrian crossings'
22 said 'trees and planting'

Outcomes of the co-design workshops

We held a workshop on 13 July 2022 with residents who expressed an interest during earlier consultations to co-design the New Sydney Place and Sydney Road Liveable Neighbourhood.

At the workshop, attendees took part in a series of exercises to identify what they liked about the area, what could be improved, and what specific measures could help, plotting these on a map of the area.

To see the maps and the longlist of ideas suggested by the community, please view the report below.

View the workshop report

In August 2022, attendees were invited back to review the outcomes of the workshop and prioritise their ideas, focusing on the original application area. More information on the outcomes will soon be provided below.

Recommendations for design

We have shortlisted the community’s priorities for the New Sydney Place and Sydney Road area against a range of criteria, including costs and practicalities.

When available, you will be able to read the reports on this web page. This will include the prioritisation workshop report, the recommendation criteria, and the recommended shortlist for the LN area.

Through-traffic restriction trial (Sydney Road)

Due to strong support during consultation and co-design for a through-traffic restriction on Sydney Road (at its junction with New Sydney Place) we ran an experimental trial of this measure ahead of the wider programme. The trial ran for a minimum of six months from spring 2024, accompanied by an ongoing public consultation.

A decision was made to make the trial permanent under a formal Traffic Regulation Order in July 2022.

Next steps

We are preparing to engage the community on other measures to complement the through-traffic restriction trial, and we will update this web page and write to residents in Spring 2025.

View the project development timeline

Keep informed

Please subscribe to our newsletter to be informed of progress. If you would like to receive this newsletter in another format please contact us using the details below.

Contact us

If you would like to talk to an advisor, get involved in the LN programme or be kept up to date on future events, email us at LNs@bathnes.gov.uk, or call 01225 39 40 25 (and request a call-back from a team member)

Please also let us know if you need this information in easy-read or an alternative format.

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