07/06/2026
The A4 is THE main arterial route between Bristol and Bath. The primary choice of transport between the two cities is the private car, closely followed by small vans and commercial vehicles. Around 30,000 vehicles per day travel along it.
Irrespective of what we are constantly being pushed towards - buses, walking, cycling and wheeling - people still like to use their own transport as it is convenient, safe and will get you to appointments largely on time.
Unfortunately in Saltford we are lumbered with the ideological policies of both B&NES and WECA where we are viewed as some sort of pariah for using our cars. Inconvenient as it may be for those who dictate transport policy to us, Saltford is a rural community and therefore we rely on our cars.
Now into the 8th year of Liberal Democrat rule at The Guildhall we see a planetary alignment of planned chaos descend on our community. The CURO development - unwanted Greenbelt building that received a record number of objections yet the Lib Dem majority on the B&NES planning committee voted it through. The scandalous waste of money and time that is the WECA cycle path along the A4 adjacent to the CURO site. This alone has brought home to thousands of people the absurdity of ‘Active Travel’. This Orwellian phrase which translates into ‘Making private car use as difficult as possible’. As many have pointed out, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the shared use path that was already there.
Both of these projects have caused huge damage to the local economy at a phenomenal cost. Time is money - thousands of hours lost to people who are desperately trying to go about their business just stuck in long traffic queues. Nearby businesses have seen a catastrophic loss of footfall ever since last autumn when the works began at a time when the economy is close to a recession.
This is compounded by the regional recycling centre at Pixash Lane. This site alone generates huge amounts of traffic all using the A4. All of B&NES rubbish is processed here. Residents all over B&NES use the facility too, not just Keynsham and Saltford. The idiotic decision not to include a rail siding to allow waste to be taken away via the GWR shows that the constant mantra of Net Zero is just paying lip service. We have planning applications either lodged or pending for two new supermarkets close by. Also recently announced the ‘New Town’ at Hick’s Gate. 3000 houses are planned by WECA. I don’t recall this in Labour WECA Mayor Helen Godwin’s manifesto? Three potential Greenbelt sites around Saltford plus the application by Crest Nicholson for 90 houses on Greenbelt land at Manor Rd. The ‘West of Bath’ proposals near Twerton Fork junction near Stothert and Pitt bowling club is essentially another New Town.
All these housing developments are nowhere near any form of mass employment. Nearly all houses will own at least one car if not two. Do the public bodies and politicians promoting these schemes think that ‘Active Travel’ is going to magic all the traffic away? I’d say yes, they do. In my opinion this utterly ideological and frankly delusional clap trap is going to devastate the area and the quality of life we currently enjoy will be gone. The road network within a five mile radius will be adversely affected as traffic keeps increasing. Greenbelt land will be lost forever due to deliberate Government policy of allowing millions into the country under ‘Indefinite Leave to Remain’ since 2020, known as the ‘Boris Wave’. These people have to live somewhere, they don’t just disappear.
The relentless attack on our quality of life in and around Saltford and Keynsham in my opinion hasn’t happened by accident, it has been deliberately planned bit by bit over the last 20 years or so with virtually no input from the public who have been largely kept in the dark.
When offered a ‘Consultation’ we have responded very clearly against any proposed change yet it goes ahead anyway. I would like to see the consultation results for the WECA A4 proposals that happened last Autumn, but I won’t hold my breath.
In Bath, people have been overwhelmingly against closing roads under the guise of ‘Low Traffic Neighbourhoods’ yet the Liberal Democrat ruling group have pushed ahead anyway, with the result that their decision is now being legally challenged.
I stood for election because as a resident of Saltford since 1998 I am as sick of all of this as you probably are and I felt perhaps through the ballot box people could have the opportunity to show their opposition. It sometimes feels overwhelming as if we really are ‘under siege’ but all I know is we must organise and fight what is being done to us and exercise our vote with thought when the time comes.
Cllr Chris Warren
Ind for Saltford.
