Bath still has a large number of tourists wandering around in the post Christmas chilly streets, taking advantage of the weak pound.
This ought to be very good news for the retailers, but a lethal combination of high business rent and rates plus online competition from global companies that pay taxes outside of the U.K. means that what should have been a windfall has been downgraded to life support in most cases. This Christmas, Amazon claimed 33% of all online purchases made in Britain.
One of the few things which central government have managed to put through in between shouting at each other about Brexit is to force local governments to radically improve the air quality of their cities by 2020 on pain of undisclosed fines after failure to meet their targets.
Bath's reaction to this was an immediate decision (after a short period of 'consultation') to charge all cars £9 per day to enter the outskirts of town, including taxis. Trucks and lorries will pay £100 per visit. As yet there are no concessions for residents like me who have to use their cars to get home from work.
Where I go most days is not on any bus route, and even if it was I would not be allowed to take a large block of marble on board - even if I could carry it. The biggest private bus company around here is First Bus, and despite the subsides received from Bath City Council, they are continually cutting services to and from areas which don't make enough revenue for them (such as the ones which may have one or two elderly and isolated old ladies with bus passes), and putting up prices well over the inflation rate.
Like most city centre residents, I cannot afford to buy a new or nearly new car, let alone an electric one. Bath Council said that they will introduce a scrappage scheme for older cars and give out grants to help the owners buy a newer replacement. When asked (by a prominent business and retail representative) how much this grant would be, the councillor said, "Oh, I don't know - a couple of hundred pounds I suppose". That's not far off what I would get for my car if I voluntarily scrapped it.
This council doesn't seem to care about maintaining Bath as a World Heritage site which people are encouraged to visit and maybe do a bit of shopping while they are here.
I wonder how they will clean the air in the immediate vicinity of places like the M25 which often (on calm days) exceed the 'acceptable' pollution levels by hundreds of percent?
Environmental campaigners have been asking governments to get to grips with this problem for over 40 years now, and all of a sudden they think they can solve it in 5. They have spotted another money source to go towards shortages. Us. Who else?
In reality, there's only one way to reduce pollution, and that's to reduce population.
ReplyDeleteThat's what David Attenborough says. I think you are right.
DeleteWell really, the only truth is that there's only one way to reduce pollution, and that's to reduce pollution.
DeleteYou should be in the British Parliament.
DeleteMove to the other side of the Severn Bridge and then you can drive back and forth for nothing all day long.
ReplyDeleteI would do a circuit - there are two bridges.
DeleteCro and David Attenborough are right. There are just too many people.
ReplyDeleteThe hassle of getting to and parking near the shops is an incentive for shopping online. I am happy to walk to the hardware store for a screw driver, but I'm not going to carry a train set for my grandchildren back from the toy store on Main Street.
I was in Bath last week and shocked to see the number of empty shops.
ReplyDeleteIt is shocking.
DeleteYour post reminds me of when I worked in a cookery shop/hardware store just off the High Street in Greenwich. It was a 'mom and pop' type affair; the owner lived just up the road. I can't tell you the number of times people would just come in to browse with the intention of ordering whatever it was they wanted online. Or, they'd tell me, that one could get the same thing cheaper at either B&Q or TK Maxx. The 2012 Summer Oympics with its many traffic diversions was the final nail in the coffin for that and a few other businesses along the road. The space is an estate agents now.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that I have done that myself. I could not afford not to.
DeleteI am so glad that I visited Bath for three weeks back in 1995. It seemed a vibrant, welcoming city then. Not sure I could afford it now.
ReplyDeleteThere were a few real shops then.
DeleteAll so true Tom and just the same in little market towns like ours. A very reduced bus service, only used by those with bus passes on the whole - it keeps being reduced further. Empty shops abound as a mixture of rates and lack of customers who are buying on line take a hold. Don't know what the answer is. When I can no longer drive the mile into town I shall despair.
ReplyDeleteThis is the inevitable result of privatisation.
DeleteHere is an answer to your marble problem, well it might be visit https://electricmilkfloats.co.uk
ReplyDeleteI believe that you can buy or hire one.
HA. I thought this would be something that floated on the river. Milk trucks are called floats?
DeleteNo need. I am seriously considering buying a 1970s 6 litre American pick-up truck and thereby becoming exempt from Clean Air Zone charges. This, however, would be out of spite since they only do about 12 miles to the gallon.
DeleteAnd milk floats do not float. A small one weighs about 3 tons.
DeleteThat is going to be awful for you Tom and for many others..... if we win the lottery I shall buy you a brand new Volvo. .... that’s a promise. XXXX
ReplyDeleteYou could buy me a brand new electric car of the sort which doesn't exist yet - one that will go to a nearby town and have enough power to get home again.
DeleteIt seems Bath is becoming the by water that defines my local village, Peninsula. Perhaps the connotation of water in the name is the kiss of death. Then there is the other problem of the serious lack of a stream of revenue, plus a council not intelligent enough to source the stream of revenue. You have not solution I can think of, and I'll be glad to hear whatever you come up with. Is there any way to park your car outside the boundaries, like at you old studio?
ReplyDeleteI could, but then I would have to walk 4 miles to work or just collect the car to drive somewhere else.
DeleteDuh. This would be like banning what's her faces horses because they shit. Whoops, defecated.
DeleteI love to imagine Bath without cars. Wouldn't it be nice if everyone could park on the outskirts?
ReplyDeleteWe have a Park and Ride scheme which has depots on three of the four compass points. You drive toward Bath and park your car a couple of miles out of town, then get on a bus. It costs about £3 and is designed for visitors. I live in the very centre of Bath and have done for about 30 years. I park as close to my home as possible, which is about a quarter of a mile.
DeleteThe closest I can park my car to my home without incurring a daily fine is about a mile and a half out of town. I am in my late sixties and I really need to deliver stuff to my house in my car now, as I have always done. In short, it would be very nice for tourists if everyone parked two miles out of town, but not so good for residents and workers.
DeleteWe also have what are known as 'bus lanes' which only busses and taxis can cross without incurring a £30 fine. I live between two of them which means that if I want to drop stuff off outside my front door, I have to make a mile and a half detour because I also cannot drive over Pulteney Bridge, which would incur another £30 fine, 24/7. I pay £100 per year to park within a quarter of a mile from my home, which is a good deal. If I took the direct route every day it would cost me £120 per day in fines.
DeleteI was in Bath last week, I am there quite often as I live in Somerset. Tourists do not frequent butchers, bookshops, Boots and Marks and Spencer’s. I give Bath 5 years after this ridiculous scheme comes into play. There are several very large car parks in the zone which are going to be very empty in short order. The shops will close and the city will end up run down and destitute. Oh well as I have to move soon anyway this just makes the decision easier.
ReplyDeleteThat is how it was when I first moved here.
DeleteHere may be the answer to your problem, Tom. You could even transport blocks of marble by it!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cVI-ZfQvr8
Forget it.
Deleteputlocker
ReplyDelete