Residents of Bratton Road have met with MP Andrew Murrison to raise concerns about a pavement widening and priority give-way scheme, which they say has worsened traffic safety and caused disruption for those living along the road.
The scheme, introduced by Wiltshire Council includes a widened footway, narrowing the carriageway to one vehicle width with vehicles approaching from Bratton direction required to give-way to any vehicles already in the narrow section
The scheme has previously drawn complaints from residents who say it has made it harder to enter and exit driveways, increased congestion, and created tension between motorists using the narrow sections of the road.
Andrew Murrison praised the turnout of residents at the meeting on Friday 5th September. “I’m really impressed by the number of people who’ve turned out today to talk about what is clearly a very important issue on Bratton Road,” he said. “I’m unhappy that the council hasn’t consulted with residents before they put in this pavement widening scheme. I’d like them now to go away and work with you and come back with proposals on how they can mitigate the problems that have obviously arisen as a result of this.
“Given the obvious interest from residents, it would be very useful for the council to meet again with me and local residents, perhaps at The Laverton, to discuss what might work both for residents and for traffic flow. The mistake that has been made here is that residents feel they were not consulted; had they been consulted in a timely fashion, some of these issues would not have arisen.”
Residents described the challenges caused by the scheme. Resident Jaqueline Pringle said, “It’s continuous traffic, day and night… I’m registered disabled, so I can’t even park outside my door because it causes so much traffic build-up. There is continuous honking and congestion.
“It’s just been a nightmare. It’s not signed properly. It’s not maintained properly. It’s not policed properly.
“We just want the councillors to listen because this is affecting our homes and property value.”
Ray Bradfield added, “The aim of this road scheme was originally to make it safer, but the way it’s been engineered makes things worse.
“The main problem is the sight lines along the long stretch of road. You cannot see traffic coming from either direction. The signage implies that people coming from the town have priority, regardless of traffic coming the other way, because of the gradient and poor visibility.
“Ideally, we need some form of mitigation, perhaps a one-way system or traffic lights, although both those solutions have problems. But the scheme as it stands has never worked.”
