A LOCAL resident is appealing for local councils to take action to lower the speed limit on a stretch of road on the A365.
For less than half a mile on Bath Road – between George Ward Gardens and the Shaw traffic lights (where Corsham Road meets Bath Road) – there is currently a 40mph speed limit. But local resident, Alistair Hughes, says that as the road is used frequently by primary school students, the limit should be decreased to 30mph. I would implore anyone to come here at school time and not see the accident that is about to happen,” said Alistair.
However, a traffic survey carried out by Wiltshire Council – which investigates if an area meets the criteria for action such as Community Speed Watch, speed indicator devices or a speed limit review – has concluded that no further action be taken.
And Melksham Without Parish Council has said that it agrees, with councillors commenting that they felt a 40mph speed limit for that stretch of road is “appropriate”. But both councils have been criticised by Alistair for focussing on the results on the survey, which found that there is not a speeding issue in the 40mph zone, and not the speed limit itself.
“The 40mph limit is on a stretch of road less than half a mile in between two 30mph speed limits,” explained Alistair. “The council has completely ignored that primary-aged school children are walking twice a day on this stretch of road which has a high frequency of HGVs. There is also a bend causing HGVs [to move] into the middle of the road as well.
“I have engaged using the proper process, which is the council, but they have focussed on the speeding (which there is occasionally) rather than the speed limit.”
Wiltshire Council’s traffic survey found that the average speed over a 7 day period was 38.4mph in the 40mph zone.
“This does not illustrate that there is a current problem with the limit,” said cllr Alan Baines at the parish council’s highways and streetscene committee meeting earlier this month.
About the appeal for the speed limit to be lowered to 30mph, cllr Baines commented that he felt that a 30mph limit “probably wouldn’t change the speed of traffic very much from what it is anyway.”
And he went on to explain that he thought having a continuous 30mph limit through Shaw and through to Melksham would “diminish” the effectiveness of 30mph limits in other areas.
