Campus construction traffic to access site via Market Place

CONSTRUCTION traffic for the Melksham Community Campus will access the site via the Market Place.

Wiltshire Council’s original plan to access the site via Western Way (A350) has been dropped due to concerns about “safety, disruption and deliverability”.

Wiltshire Council reports, “With the start of construction of Melksham Community Campus just a few months away, plans are being finalised to manage the disruption this will cause as carefully as possible.

“The campus will offer a host of top-class facilities under one roof, including a gym, pool, sports hall, library, café, and meeting space for the community.

“It is being proposed to bring the campus construction traffic in via Market Place, rather than the A350. Following detailed consultation with the council’s highways department, bringing construction traffic directly from the A350 is no longer considered to be the safest route into the site, and it would have caused considerable delays on the A350.

“It is now proposed that all construction vehicles, the majority of which are vans and cars, will travel from the A350, along Semington Road, and will enter and exit the Market Pace from either Spa Road or King Street. Where possible they will enter from one road and exit via the other, but this will be governed by other activity on the local road network. Construction traffic will exit the same way as it comes in. The site is likely to have around 48 vehicles visiting each day, considerably less than the amount that access it currently. As part of this process, a Section 73 notice will be submitted which provides a statutory 13-week consultation period.

“Large vehicle movements in and out of site will be restricted during school drop-off and pick-up times. Therefore, large vehicle movements will be restricted to the following times during the school term: 07:00 – 08:00, 09:00 – 15:15, and 16:30 – 18:00.

“There will be unavoidable points during construction where access is required during these times and this will be managed effectively by the contractor and with a minimum of 5 days’ notice provided to local residents and businesses.

“Melksham Area Board members have been consulted and support this approach. Pedestrian access to the sports clubs will be maintained throughout the construction process but there will be no public parking on-site, except for a small number of blue badge spaces. The splitter island within the Market Place will be removed and stored, and will be reinstated upon completion of the works. 

“A photographic survey will be undertaken and in the unlikely event that damage is caused, the contractor will be responsible for repairing this. Preparatory work will continue for the rest of this year, which will enable construction work to start on-site in early 2021.

“The council has made contact with the sports clubs that access the site and the nearby residents at Cedar Close to ensure they are fully updated on how the construction period affects them.”

Cllr Ian Blair-Pilling, Wiltshire Council cabinet member for leisure added, “Construction work of this scale in a town centre location is going to cause some disruption, that’s unfortunately unavoidable. However, we are working closely with local stakeholders and ensuring our plans mitigate any issues as much as possible.

“Melksham Community Campus has never been so close to construction before and we really appreciate residents’ patience and support as we plan in detail for this significant milestone. We know some people may be frustrated by some of the disruption caused, however we firmly believe those feelings will quickly be offset by the end result – a wonderful community facility.”

More information can be found at Wiltshire Council’s dedicated Melksham Community Campus page at www.wiltshire.gov.uk/community-environment-melksham-community-campus

At a meeting of town councillors last month, they expressed disappointment that the campus construction traffic will have to use roads in the town (see article on page 14)