Council 'not listening' over controversial bus gate

A local authority is "not listening" to residents concerns over a controversial bus gate, protestors against the scheme have said.

The six-month trial in Portswood, Southampton, started in January, and means only buses, taxis and cyclists are permitted to travel at certain hours on stretches of Portswood Road.

Southampton City Council said an independent audit of the scheme is currently taking place, with one element already removed earlier this month as part of the investigation.

But dozens of locals voiced their concerns over the bus gate at the heart of the plan at a protest on Sunday.

Resident Crispin Jameson, who joined the protest, said: "Last time we had a petition before they started it we got nearly 3,000 people saying do not do it.

"What do the council do? They carry on - they are not listening."

Mr Jameson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the local authority was "marking their own homework" with the figures being used to assess the impact of the bus gate.

He said: "They should be asking the right questions of the residents and of the traders.

"In blunt, they should be listening," he added.

A petition calling for the Labour-led council to scrap the bus gate has received more than 1,500 signatures, and is supported by both the Conservative and Liberal Democrat council groups.

Conservative leader Peter Baillie, who was at the protest alongside Lib Dem leader Richard Blackman, said the demonstration was a "great show of strength" from a "community that knows it can't afford to lose its shops".

"This sort of thing is a disgrace to be happening and it's an affront to democracy," he added.

The Conservative group have called on the Labour council's transport chief Eamon Keogh to resign over the scheme, and plan to table a motion of no confidence in him this week.

Keogh previously confirmed an independent audit into the scheme was underway, and would be "completed in the coming weeks".

"The audit will inform if any adjustments are needed to the measures currently in operation at this location," he said.

He added that the trial was thoroughly monitored and feedback was being taken on board.

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