Calls by a Bathgate councillor for a root and branch review of traffic and road safety in the town have been rejected at a meeting of West Lothian Council.
Councillor Willie Boyle tried to raise a motion at this month’s meeting of the full council for a wider study on the town’s traffic issues - but he took no account of the costs of carrying out such a study and the motion was ruled invalid.
There have long been complaints about congestion in the centre of Bathgate and poor parking in the town.
Councillor Boyle has also championed the introduction of Decriminalised Parking Enforcement, where the council raises money through parking charges.
Provost Cathy Muldoon had taken advice from the council’s Governance Manager, James Millar. Any motion which has financial implications has to address the costs involved .
The councillor’s motion said: “West Lothian Council is running a consultation on New‐Road‐Footpath‐and‐Cyclepath‐Development with the intention of delivering a twin cycle lane from Guildiehaugh Roundabout along Edinburgh Road past the station into King Street.
The motion added: “Where this initiative is to be welcomed, there are concerns that it is not enough.
“There will most likely be significant knock on effects to other parts of the town centre with traffic at peak times looking to take alternative routes. In addition to this project there also needs to be a serious consideration to where the users of the cycle route are directed safely through the town centre and beyond.
“Bathgate needs to capitalise on this long‐awaited project and welcomes the incentive to look at the bigger picture.”
Provost Muldoon told the meeting there are no plans by the council to carry out a traffic management study specifically in Bathgate, nor is there a budget to do so within the Roads department.
Commissioning an external study would cost around £100,000, the council heard.
Councillor Boyle told the meeting that he assumed that this kind of study would be part of the regular activity of the Roads department staff.
He told the meeting that he had not accounted for budget costs for that reason, and accepted that Standing Orders forbade the motion being debated by the council because its financial implications were not addressed.
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