WESTBURY residents have raised fears that Wiltshire Council is ‘sneaking-in’ plans for an eastern Westbury bypass, after discovering that a map outlining a route is included in the council’s strategy for the county’s future.
Plans for an eastern bypass were turned down by the Secretary of State for Transport in 2009. However, Wiltshire Council’s core strategy, which sets out the county’s plans and policies for the future, includes a map outlining the route of an eastern bypass as a “road proposal”.
Wiltshire Council say that the route is included simply because it is a ‘saved policy’ with no policy to supersede it. But residents are asking why the route – which was categorically turned down – should be included if there are no plans to revive it. Furthermore, a bypass is not mentioned in the main document of the core strategy, only in the accompanying maps, leading residents to accuse the council of “sneaking-in” a bypass plan.
Local resident John Bowley said, “Wiltshire Council appears to be hoping that present government and new planning policy will so totally alter the situation that a defective and discredited project can be reinstated.
“I am trying to get my head around Wiltshire Council’s argument that its Eastern Westbury Bypass plan is only there because it is a saved policy. Yet it is formally defunct. It was recommended against by the Independent Planning Inspector and a similar highly qualified planning colleague for fundamental common-sense reasons, after the Public Inquiry held in Westbury in 2008 where all of the evidence and opinions were examined.
“On this expert advice, the relevant Secretary of State, on behalf of the Government, rejected Wiltshire Council’s Eastern Westbury Bypass scheme, in 2009.
“Wiltshire Council’s statement that it is representing adopted policy is a false position.
“I think that it is illogical to retain a defunct scheme within the Wilts Core Strategy on the contentious basis that it has to remain there until replaced by a new proposal. The map which Wiltshire Council has included in its Core Strategy does not clarify that the eastern bypass route around Westbury is defunct. It implies that it is an active proposal. And why has Wiltshire Council not produced alternative Westbury Bypass routes for consideration in the three years since 2009?
“Many believe that Wiltshire Council is actually attempting to resurrect its failed project.”
A spokesperson for Wiltshire Council said they could only comment that “It’s not because we have revived the bypass, the details are on the map because it’s a saved policy.”
Earlier this year, Wiltshire Council told a Westbury meeting that they had started to consider over 50 potential major transport schemes in the county, but told the White Horse News last week that it is still far too early to predict whether a Westbury bypass would be prioritised.
The Wiltshire Core Strategy was formally improved by the council in June. It is yet to be resubmitted to the planning inspectorate.
