The Government has removed the proposed A350 Melksham Bypass from its major road funding programme, in a major setback for supporters of the long-awaited scheme.
In a letter dated 8th October, Roads Minister Justin Madders MP confirmed to Melksham MP Brian Mathew that the bypass had been removed from the Major Road Network (MRN) and Large Local Majors (LLM) programme following a review.
The minister said the scheme had been assessed as offering ‘lower overall value for money’ than other projects in the programme.
He wrote, “This assessment took account of factors including business case maturity, reliability of the analysis to date and uncertainty.
“I recognise the importance of the scheme to your constituency and appreciate that this decision will be disappointing.”
Wiltshire Council’s preferred route for the bypass, running east of Melksham and around Bowerhill, was consulted on in 2021.
The council reallocated £10million from its budget that had been set aside for the bypass while it waited for news from the Department for Transport on whether the project could move forward.
However, Mr Madders said the decision did not rule out the scheme being considered again in future, provided there was a compelling business case and an appropriate funding programme became available.
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