Council will not axe bus gate trial

A local authority in Hampshire has confirmed it will not be scrapping a controversial bus gate trial, which some have described as causing ‘widespread chaos and misery’.

The six-month trial, which began in Portswood, Southampton, in January, permits only buses, taxis, and bicycles to travel at certain hours on stretches of Portswood Road.

At a full meeting of Southampton City Council on Wednesday 26th March, the Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, Eamonn Keogh, refused to abandon the trial — despite growing pressure to do so — until there had been an assessment made of its impact.

Cllr Keogh also survived a motion of no confidence, which the opposition Conservatives tabled with support from the Liberal Democrats.