In March 2022, a new cycle lane was installed on Keynsham High Street.

Personal injury claims against Bath and North East Somerset (BANES) Council have been made by 21 people. Seven of those have been rejected, but the rest remain open and under investigation.

The council stated that no insurance claims had currently been settled and no payments had been made yet.

People have described the white road markings as “optical illusions”, as the white kerbs and painted white lines look similar.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the figures were obtained through a freedom of information request to BANES Council, submitted by Councillor Alan Hale.

He is calling for the cycle lane to be removed in the interest public health and safety.

The lane was painted red in August 2022 with the hope of reducing the number of falls.

Councillor Mark Roper, the cabinet member for economic development, regeneration and growth, defended the council’s response to the issues.

He said the cycle lane was built to the government’s current LTN120 standards and a series of mitigations were put in place in response to the reported incidents, and a Stage 4 Road Safety Audit had been commissioned to suggest any further improvements.

Regulated rail fares in England and Wales are increasing by up to 5.9% as campaigners call for reforms due to unreliable services.

The increase is above last year’s 4.8% hike but far below the rate of inflation.

The government said that it did not want to add to pressures on households.

However, some groups said that after months of poor services and strikes, passengers are not getting value for money.

About 45% of fares are regulated – they are directly influenced by the government. These include most season tickets, travelcards, and some off-peak returns.

Train operators said fares needed to be set at an appropriate level for the rail industry and its customers.

A shortage of drivers has led to a reduced timetable being brought in on bus services in Hull.

East Yorkshire buses will be operating temporary daily service reductions planned for services 54, 56, 57, 66, 104, 105 and 154.

The company said it would create more reliable services following a number of last-minute cancellations.

Passengers are already facing disruption with a strike on Stagecoach buses.

Ben Gilligan, East Yorkshire’s managing director, said the bus industry as a whole had been impacted by driver shortages.

He said it was a result of various factors including the lifting of coronavirus pandemic restrictions, issues with the DVSA (Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency) and a “small labour market and a lot of competition”.

He added: “There’s been a lot of issues with licences not being issued promptly by the DVSA as well as general challenges in the labour market… so we’re not alone and it’s not just buses facing the problem.”

The cost-of-living crisis is hitting people living in rural areas harder than those living in towns and cities, according to a new report.

The study, by the Rural Services Network, says those in the countryside are spending much more on essentials like heating, transport and housing.

Facing “significantly higher” costs, they earn “much less” than their urban counterparts, the report found.

Since the pandemic, house prices have also soared in comparison to towns.

The study found that rural house prices are almost 40% higher than in urban areas across England (excluding London), with rural villages and hamlets increasing to 55% higher.

Meanwhile, rural households on a low income now spend about half of their earnings on rent – almost 5% more than low-income households in urban areas.

‘Families in fuel poverty’

Houses in the countryside also tend to cost a lot more to heat, as many are less well-insulated and are not connected to the gas grid.

The research shows that rural households need more than £500 to take them out of fuel poverty, which is twice as much as in urban areas.

The cost of getting around is also higher, as an estimated 3,000 rural bus routes have been “lost or reduced” in a decade, according to the Campaign for Better Transport.

Because of a greater reliance on cars, the data shows that rural households spend on average about £114 per week on transport, compared to £80 for urban households. This eats into a higher proportion of disposable income.

Despite these higher costs, rural employees with the lowest earnings face wages 12% lower than those working in urban areas.

Graham Biggs, chief executive of the Rural Services Network, which represents rural councils and other service providers, said: “Outdated infrastructure and a legacy of other factors, such as poor transport and broadband connectivity, employment opportunities and housing demand, means that many rural areas are more isolated than maps suggest and are all contributing to a higher overall cost of living.

“The government must overcome policy silos and develop an integrated approach that recognises the multiple forms of disadvantage rural areas face.

“This should include levelling up the rural economy to ensure that low wage levels can be improved, as well as supporting rural houses to become more energy efficient to help get families out of fuel poverty.”

New research has revealed the most dangerous rural roads for young drivers as data shows they are more likely to crash and be killed on country roads than any other age group.

Motorists aged 17-24 are already known to be involved in a disproportionate number of accidents but the research released by the AA Charitable Trust has found that they are also at greater risk on rural roads compared with other age groups and other road types.

The research, by Agilysis and the Road Safety Foundation, found that 71 per cent of all young driver fatalities take place on rural roads. Department for Transport figures show that across all age groups, 57 per cent of all deaths occur on rural roads.

A robot could transform how parcels are delivered in the UK after completing its landmark first journey.

The UK’s first autonomous delivery vehicle transported medical supplies from a pharmacy to a care home in Hounslow, London.  

The electric vehicle, built by Academy of Robotics, uses artificial intelligence and a specially developed package management system to provide contact-free delivery.

It can cover 60 miles fully loaded on a single charge and deliver in city centres and suburban and rural locations.

Lack of access to public transport and the internet is leaving children in remote, rural communities facing “prolonged isolation, exclusion and insecurity”, a report warns.

Children in remote rural and coastal communities “have been overlooked for too long”, according to the Centre for Mental Health.

Its report, funded by BBC Children in Need, found that eight to 13-year-olds are struggling to get mental health support because of poor transport, digital connectivity and a lack of safe spaces to meet.

We need to take action now to ensure no child’s mental health is put at risk because of where they live.

Rural areas often appear to be “poorly served” by specialist services, the report entitled The Space Between Us found.

It is calling for more funding for local councils to invest in digital infrastructure for places with limited connectivity, to develop peer support services and invest in parks, schools and community centres.

Centre for Mental Health deputy chief executive Andy Bell said: “Children in remote rural and coastal communities have been overlooked for too long.

“While rural life can be good for mental health, children growing up in poverty, with disability or in a marginalised or oppressed community face a high risk of poor mental health with little support close to home.

“Without access to public transport or digital connection, children face prolonged isolation, exclusion and insecurity.

Ministers have privately warned of a shortage of 6,000 public buses needed to get children to school in England next week for the autumn term and have urged coach companies to fill the gap.

Low passenger numbers during the pandemic have led some bus companies, particularly in rural areas, to reduce services, while social distancing requirements on public transport mean that there will be lower capacity on such services.

Fears that many of the 750,000 children who travel to school by public buses will not be able to make it to classrooms were raised at a meeting chaired by Charlotte Vere, the transport minister.

Candice Mason, of Masons coaches in Tring, Hertfordshire, took part in the meeting last month between the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT), which represents operators, and Vere. “She opened the meeting very clearly stating her focus was on home-to-school transport,” Mason said. “Her role was to try and get as many children as possible on to dedicated home-to-school services and she believed there was a shortfall of about 6,000 vehicles.”

There are enough coaches in the UK to deal with demand, according to the CPT, but nobody knows where shortages might hit.

The start of the new school year in September is still mired in uncertainty. Several recent surveys indicate that the majority of parents intend to send their children back to school at the start of term but that a minority remain unsure as to what they will do. The rise of infection rates in the UK also suggests that schools may be disrupted by local lockdowns.

The Rail Reform Group – an independent think-tank of railway professionals – recently published a series of papers called The Enterprising Railway, looking at opportunities to develop a railway based on ‘the common good’.

What could work is a combination of greater local management, empowered to do much more than just run trains, with the security of being part of a much bigger network.

In its submission to the Williams Review, the Rail Reform Group argued for converting franchises – using ‘Northern’ as a pilot – into socially-owned businesses controlled by the community. It’s about applying a more co-operative approach. Government support would continue, but profits would go back into the railways, not to shareholders.

If ‘Northern Trains’ became a social enterprise with representation on its board from passengers, employees, local government and the business community, we’d be on the way to getting a railway that operates ‘for the common good’.

On 23 March, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said all non-essential travel and public gatherings had to stop, with people urged to leave home only for exercise, to shop for essential items, for medical care, or when their work could not be done at home.

1) People are largely keeping their distance

The aim has of the lockdown is to limit the spread of coronavirus, to help the NHS to cope and ultimately reduce the number of deaths from the disease.

The government says the number of new cases is stabilising and suggests there is evidence that the public’s adherence to the measures is starting to have an impact.

Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, said: “It’s not taking off in that sharp uptake, it’s not gone sky high. And if anything there might even be some flattening. That is because of what we’re all doing with social distancing.”

The way people are using the health service is also changing. In March, the number of people attending A&E dropped whilst the numbers of calls made to 111 – the NHS hotline – reached record highs.

2) Fewer journeys made

The public’s use of transport has fallen dramatically, although this trend started before the lockdown measures were announced, as many people started to work from home.

Overall transport use – road, rail and the Tube in London – fell by 60% between early February and the beginning of April, according to the Department for Transport.

3) Crime is down – but anti-social behaviour is up

In England and Wales, crime fell by 28% in the four weeks to 12 April, compared to the same time last year. Home burglary, for example, was down by more than a third, as people spent far more time indoors. However, incidents of anti-social behaviour rose by 59%.

Meanwhile, the National Domestic Abuse helpline has seen a 25% increase in calls since the lockdown, the charity Refuge says.

4) Shopping sales

In the week before the restrictions started, supermarket sales were 43% higher than the same time last year, as many rushed to stock up amid fear of shortages.

But average sales fell by 7.4% over the first fortnight of lockdown according to consultancy Neilsen.

“When the country was told not to travel people stopped shopping,” says Mike Watkins, Nielsen’s head of retailer and business insight. “They had already bought a lot of stuff, and their larders and freezers were full.”

However, supermarket sales were back up to almost 9% higher than average in the week ending 11 April – perhaps people had eaten all the extra food they had bought.

5) More demand for benefit

Close to one million people have applied for universal credit since the lockdown began. Of these, 473,000 applied in the first eight days, almost as many as applied during the whole of the preceding three weeks, and almost 10 times as many as would apply in an average week.

Universal credit is a consolidated monthly payment for those of working-age, replacing a host of previous benefits including income-based jobseeker’s allowance, housing benefit, child tax credit and working tax credit.

6) Better air quality

Air pollution levels in the UK have dropped significantly in the weeks since the country went into lockdown.

The level of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) has fallen across the UK, with the daily average down almost 40% on the same period last year.