On 18 June 2008, Lawrence Buabeng from Snow Hill & Alex Schlesinger, from Old Bank Antiques Centre, and chairman of the London Road and Snow Hill Partnership spoke at The Better Bath Forum.
Council chiefs were reminded by Lawrence that though it is fine to bring new workers and high-flying businesses into the city, more needs to be done to help the less well-off. Lawrence who is defending a Skills and Enterprise Initiative in Snow Hill, raised the issue of finding jobs for people who already live in Bath before bringing in new workers to the city. Mentioning a big problem in the city with drug and alcohol dependent people, he said “we need some sort of programme to bring them into the local economy."
This idea of supporting people in the city who are struggling to find work, before bringing in new workers was backed by the audience. A member of the audience Julia Bailhache said "Those who don't have anything, who don't have the skills for professional jobs, there is nothing for them".
Read the article of the Bath Chronicle or click HERE.
On behalf of the London Road traders, Alex said:
"I am from that forgotten part of Bath; the bit that everyone drives through on their way into the World Heritage site called Bath. You might have heard of it. It`s called the London Road. Half a century ago London Road was a thriving community. Very mixed in background, but alive. Then came fifty years of bad policy and self-contradictory planning on the part of the local authority.
Today, the London Road and the adjacent Snow Hill estate is the result of that planning. Today the area is reckoned to be in the bottom 20% of electoral wards in terms of poverty. Besides poverty we have crime, drug dealing, and traffic borne air pollution that puts the London Road in the top three or so polluted urban thoroughfares in the UK… and, well, we have to come top in something!
Thanks to local planning decisions, many of the local shops were allowed to be converted into flats in the 1970s and `80s. However, because the buildings and the shop fronts are "listed", the shop fronts had to be retained. Inevitably, due to noise and pollution, few people found these ground floor flats attractive, even to rent. Several are now empty and others are used for storage.
So what do visitors see on entering Bath? Besides traffic, they see litter and a generally poorly maintained public infrastructure. But above all visitors see dead shops. most with the ubiquitous dirty curtains, behind even dirtier glass. Visitors see first the outward signs of economic and social decay.
Of course, some businesses do survive, and other new ones have appeared. Most of these provide furnishings, bathrooms, kitchens and antiques. In general these new businesses have been successful, and collectively they give a strong hint that London Road could once again be a thriving business community, if only the local authority was ever minded to encourage this to happen.
But that would take planning and consultation with local residents and businesses and community groups. Above all, it would take Vision... and the London Road has seen very little of that from the local authority in the last half century”.
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The London Road regeneration and the needs for those who are struggling are now hopefully firmly on the agenda at The Better Bath Forum. We will endeavour to ensure that it remains as such in future.
In its latest statement, the Better Bath Forum stresses the “need for high quality housing at a cost commensurate with salaries; efficient and affordable transport; high quality public realm; and a lively cultural scene. Bath does not compare well with leading cities in the UK and Europe on these criteria, although it has the potential to be among the best. If it is to capitalize on its natural and architectural assets, it must cherish and enhance what makes it unique, including its diverse independent retail sector and its Rugby Club based in the city centre. And it must smarten up the run-down scruffy public realm”.
The meeting also concludes “that regeneration of the London Road area could make a huge difference to an important gateway to the city, to the benefit of residents, businesses and visitors alike. The Council should state whether it considers that comprehensive regeneration of the London Road area is feasible”.
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