Council back plans to improve footpaths and fight Bath Road pavement parking

THE town council has agreed to financially back three projects to make improvements to footpaths in the area. 

Councillors agreed to spend £6,750 – which will cover 50% of the total cost of the projects – to make improvements to the footway link between Maple Close and Sandridge Road; to install dropped kerbs on Old Broughton Road to aid crossing; and to install bollards on the corner of Union Street and Bath Road to prevent cars parking on the pavement outside Kebab & Chicken Hut.

The remaining cost of the projects will be funded by Melksham’s comm- unity area transport group (CATG) – a sub group of the Melksham Area Board that deals with highway issues – if they agree to proceed. The £6,750 spend will be taken from the town council’s 2021/22 CATG budget of £7,500, leaving £750 for the remainder of the financial year.

“We’ve been waiting for them so long,” said cllr Vanessa Fiorelli at the meeting, “so let’s just get on with it.”

The estimated cost to provide a full width barrier across the existing footway between Maple Close and Sandridge Road and to create a new footway diversion is £6,000. The estimated cost for the two dropped kerbs on Old Broughton Road is £5,500, which includes the cost of a lane closure whilst they are installed.

And the estimated cost for installing bollards on the corner of Union Street and Bath Road to prevent cars parking on the pavement outside the takeaway shop is £2,000. 

“This is a battle we have got to win,” said cllr Pat Aves about the ongoing issue of pavement parking.