• Swindon & Wiltshire Eco
• Wednesday July 9 2025

Active travel plan for Bath enterprise zone launched

Nearly £5 million is to be ploughed into a scheme to encourage active travel in the Bath City Enterprise Zone.

The £4.7 million Bath Quays active travel will see improvements made to walking and cycling routes on Green Park Road (A367) and Lower Bristol Road (A36), linking to Quays Bridge alongside the flagship riverside regeneration project, with work able to start in September 2025 and be finished in June 2026.

On Green Park Road, segregated cycle lanes in both directions, relocated bus stops, and a new zebra crossing will make active travel easier.

On the Lower Bristol Road, segregated cycle lanes, upgraded signal and toucan crossings should make cycling smoother towards Quays Bridge.

When completed in recent years, Quays Bridge became the first new river crossing in central Bath in a century and formerly the longest stretch of river in the city centre without a bridge.

Bath Quays is in the heart of the Bath City Enterprise Zone, bringing new public space, restaurants, and cafes alongside the River Avon with new office space for businesses, and around 150 new homes.

Up to 2,600 new jobs and 150 new homes are expected to be delivered across the redevelopment of Bath Quays North – a former car and coach park – Bath Quays South, and Bath Quays Waterside. The latter includes flood defences and flood mitigation, as well as new trees and habitat planting.

These plans will also support wider investment from the Mayoral Combined Authority in Bath, working with Bath & North East Somerset Council.

Work is underway to deliver 900 quality, sustainable affordable and market homes as well as a riverside park on the former gas works at Bath Western Riverside, following £8 million of investment from the MCA.

West of England mayor Helen Godwin said: “Bath Quays is one of the region’s most exciting regeneration projects, creating new jobs, homes, and offices for local people and businesses; cutting pollution; and unlocking the waterside.

“Working with the council, we want to make it easier for people to get around and connect to those opportunities – just as we are investing in the Scholars’ Way project in the south of Bath which links up to the university.

“Getting the basics right now by improving our walking and cycling infrastructure, and fixing our roads and bridges, will lay the foundations for a better transport system overall for the West of England.

“We secured £752 million for that next stage in the recent Spending Review. That means that the West can get out of the slow lane on transport and start to catch up with other city-regions, with better buses, more trains, and mass transit – with trams and much more on the table.”

Councillor Sarah Warren, deputy leader and cabinet member for Sustainable Bath and North East Somerset, said: “This latest round of investment demonstrates our region’s shared ambition to deliver transformative infrastructure and economic growth.

“The approval of the Bath Quays Links Full Business Case is a major milestone for Bath, unlocking safer, greener and more accessible routes that will benefit residents, businesses and visitors alike.

“With connectivity to other walking, wheeling and cycling routes across the city centre, Bath Quays Links is another step forward in creating an active travel network fit for the city of Bath. It’s a clear example of how strategic funding can support local priorities and long-term regeneration.”

The Bath Quays active travel proposals, with a high benefit-cost ratio of £2.46 of public benefit for every £1 invested, will come before the mayor and council leaders’ next joint meeting on July 18.