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.

A funding shortfall for children with special educational needs has led to a surge in court appeals, as families turn to legal action to secure extra help from cash-strapped councils.

With a 26% rise in the last financial year in the number of court appeals by families, MPs are warning of a crisis in special needs care. It is the third successive year that an increase has been recorded. The total of 6,374 appeals lodged in 2018-19 was almost double the number of three years earlier, according to analysis by the Special Needs Jungle website.

The increase in legal action comes amid what insiders describe as a perfect storm hitting provision for special educational needs and disabilities (Send). Schools are struggling to meet the extra costs. That is heaping further pressure on councils, which have a legal obligation to provide care for children that require it. That in turn has led more families to the courts to fight for resources for their children.

A backlog of cases is growing, and more judges are being recruited to deal with the workload. And after almost a decade of funding cuts to local authorities, families are now challenging the government at the high court over its funding for Send.