Issue 509 – Westbury wants to re-open bypass discussions

WESTBURY Town Council is calling on Wiltshire Council and other stakeholders to restart discussions on a Westbury bypass. Councillors have agreed that a bypass for the town is needed, but emphasise that any plans must start from square one, with no routes proposed until a later stage in discussions.Plans for an eastern bypass around Westbury were turned down in the summer of 2009 after years of controversy over which route a bypass should take, as groups were formed to promote or protest against an eastern or western route. When the bypass was refused, the highly detailed 289 page report submitted by inspector Alan Langton said that, although the bypass would remove some traffic from the town, the benefits did not outweigh the cost to the environment and the scheme did not take into consideration congestion at the Yarnbrook roundabout; which he considered to be a more congested section of road than through Westbury.However last week, cllr Russell Hawker raised the suggestion of restarting bypass discussions to the meeting of Westbury Town Council.The town council is calling on Wiltshire Council, Wiltshire Strategic Economic Partnership, and all other relevant stakeholders to, without delay, start discussions and relevant technical work to identify an appropriate and practical route for an A350 Westbury bypass. Cllr Hawker said, “This is not a discussion about any particular route, it’s a fresh discussion. Westbury needs an A350 bypass as soon as possible, not least because the heavy traffic flows along the A350 are expected to continue to grow for a wide range of reasons.”Many councillors agreed that the bypass is needed, but emphasised that discussions would have to start with a blank sheet and, at this point, should be about the possibilities and technical work, not about a specific route. Cllr Sue Ezra said, “No route must be discussed at this time. We need to go back to square one and look at everything from the beginning.” Cllr David Jenkins added, “I would like choice. We need to talk and discuss what the possibilities are. At this stage we need to keep it simple.”Councillors also emphasised that any plans needed to have the whole town on board, warning against splitting the town again. Cllr Gordon King said, “We’ve been here before, and we had very strained relationships in the town. Whatever we do we must avoid that happening again. And we must not forget what the inspector said – that cannot be ignored and lessons must be learnt.”Cllr David Tout commented, “The bypass has not really gone away, we do need one. If we are going to have a bypass in my time we have to have a common strategy and a common goal and must be seen as a community.”Cllr Hawker said, “I believe that now is a good time to press this issue forward and try to put it back on the agenda of the administration at County Hall.”But members of the public attended the town council meeting to warn against restarting discussions, pointing to the expense of previous bypass discussions and asking councillors to consider the inspector’s report which outlined why the bypass was rejected in 2009. Why restart discussions now? Westbury already suffers from a high volume of traffic, but it looks like much more could come through the town’s streets in the future. Growth in Westbury is set to continue, and in particular there are fears that the nature of growth could result in a rise of heavy goods vehicles.Wiltshire Council’s waste strategy suggests three more possible waste sites in Westbury, sites that could produce extra traffic if waste is brought in from around the county. Bath and North East Somerset Council plan to create a new weight limit in Bath, which has given rise to fears it could force heavy goods vehicles to take an alternative route through Westbury. In addition, Wiltshire Council’s Core Strategy identifies Westbury as a strategic location for employment, due in part to its accessible location on the A350, as well as further housing.