Stop the Melksham Bypass group call for end to bypass plans

CAMPAIGN group, Stop the Melksham Bypass (STMB), has welcomed local MP Michelle Donelan’s comments that she does not support the current proposed route of the A350 bypass. 

But the group has urged the MP to go further with her opposition to the proposed route – a route to the east of Melksham, around Bowerhill – explaining that they feel there is no longer a need for a bypass ‘in any form’. 

They say that since the upgrade to the Farmers roundabout, completed in October 2019, traffic flow has ‘vastly improved’ in the town.  

And if further improvements were made to combat ongoing issues at the traffic light-controlled junction at McDonald’s, and congestion caused by cars attempting to turn right from the A350 into Westlands Lane, the group believes there would be no need for a bypass. 

“Clearly these two issues could be rectified through better and more effective junction planning, without the need for a £235million bypass,” say the STMB group. 

In the last issue of Melksham News, local MP, Michelle Donelan, said that whilst she is ‘supportive of the principle of a bypass’, she is ‘not convinced’ the route chosen by Wiltshire Council is the right one, explaining that she feels it would unnecessarily “devastate huge amounts of the countryside.” 

Housing

The MP also said that if the proposed route were to go ahead, it would leave ‘a big chunk of land’ that would ‘inevitably’ be filled with new housing.

“So, in the long term you’ll end up with two very busy roads; you won’t be cutting down traffic and congestion, you’ll just be doubling the air pollution and doubling the problem,” the MP told Melksham News.

Instead, the MP called for another solution to be found to help solve the ‘bottleneck’ problem that is faced by the residents of Beanacre, who say that the A350 is congested in their village, causing an impact on air pollution. 

“I just feel that the solution that’s on the table at the moment will actually not deliver for anybody,” said the MP. 

Better junction

planning

In response to the MP’s comments, the campaign group said, “STMB are heartened by the response from Michelle Donelan and are broadly in agreement with what she has said. However, the STMB would argue that actually there is no longer a need for a bypass of any form.  

“Since the upgrade to the Farmers roundabout, traffic flow is vastly improved across all days of the week and at all times of the day. There are, however, still two problems with the route through Melksham. 

“Firstly, there are occasionally short queues of traffic at Beanacre, when traffic heading south stacks up behind vehicles waiting to turn right into Westlands Lane, and cars travelling north do not allow them to turn in. 

“Secondly, vehicles heading north can be held up when vehicles queuing for the McDonalds drive are forced to queue on the main carriageway, due to the poor design of both the site and the junction.  

“Clearly these two issues could be rectified through better and more effective junction planning, without the need for a £235million bypass. 

“There are other factors that the population of Melksham, and in particular Beanacre, need to consider. The new road is not intended to fully bypass the town, it is planned as a relief road that is anticipated to take only 50-60% of traffic away from the existing route.  

Viaduct

“The new route is likely to be a lot closer to the northern part of Beanacre than the current plan shows and it must be raised as a viaduct to traverse the flood plain. With no possibility of noise abatement or visual obscurement, the residents in Beanacre will effectively face having traffic at their front door, whilst also seeing and hearing it in their back gardens.  

“Clearly the 3,000+ Bowerhill residents will be very hard hit with noise and light, noxious gas and particulate pollution from a road that effectively cuts the village off from the canal, and completely encircles them in traffic, with the current A350 on the west, the A365 to the north and the new A350 to the east. 

“The STMB group has been very active in collecting data from the three councils involved through Freedom of Information Requests, ensuring that the information being used is accurate and can be published in the public domain.  

Expensive carbuncle

“One such request identified that following the first non-statutory consultation there were 480 letters or emails to Wiltshire County Council where 433 (90%) of them were against the proposed road. This shows that there is real strength of feeling in the community, and increasingly growing, against what is going to be an expensive carbuncle on the countryside surrounding the town.  

“It is clear that the plan is simply being used as a vehicle to facilitate more housing, creating yet more traffic, and further burdening our already overstretched facilities that are struggling to support the existing population. 

“If you wish to make an objection to the proposed plan then please write to your MP Michelle Donelan michelle.donelan.mp@parliament.uk or to Grant Shapps shappsg@parliament.uk and copy Charlie Sunderland charlie.sunderland@dft.gov.uk. State clearly the reasons for your objection and include your address.” 

If you wish to join the STMB campaign, please contact the group via email: StopTheMelkshamBypass@outlook.com