SHOULD Westbury begin looking at a possible route for a future bypass? This was the question considered by town councillors at a recent meeting of their highways, planning and development committee.
Chair of the committee, cllr Mike Sutton, had sent a letter to Wiltshire Council about the problems caused by traffic and poor air quality in the town and councillors considered a reply from the leader of Wiltshire Council, cllr Richard Clewer.
In his reply, cllr Clewer reiterated that there is currently no safeguarding for a Westbury bypass, but the council’s core strategy says, “the strategic transport network along the A350 corridor will be maintained, managed and selectively improved to support development growth at Chippenham, Melksham, Trow- bridge, Westbury and Warminster.” Over the last five years, he said that councils had been lobbying for investment for improvement. In March this year, the Secretary of State gave the green light for upgrading of the A350, linking the M4 to the Dorset coast.
Westbury councillors have expressed hope that a bypass around Westbury could be part of future upgrades to this work. In his letter, cllr Clewer said, “It offers an unprecedented opportunity to argue for investment far beyond levels available to us through usual channels – the study is due to report in late 2022 in time to inform the next RIS period (2025-2030).” However, he added, “We will need to see the outcome of that work prior to giving any serious thought to the safeguarding of any land.”
At Westbury Town Council’s highways, planning and development committee meeting, cllr Mike Sutton said, “If you’re thinking about a road scheme for Westbury, where are you going to put it? We know that everything has been built on the west side of Westbury and therefore the question arises, where do they actually think this road will go? Have they safeguarded or identified any land where the bypass or the road alleviation will go? And you’ll see in their reply that, no, they haven’t identified any land. So, the question now for the committee is, do we go back to Wiltshire Council and say we are surprised that you haven’t identified any land.”
Cllr Gordon King described the relationship the town council has with the local authority, “It’s a process of push and pull. We can wait for Wiltshire Council to decide what route to use or we can propose a route ourselves for Wiltshire Council to consider. And certainly, I think it should be up to this town council to take the lead on that going forward. The response given to us by Wiltshire Council does give broadly outline a timetable in which they will apply for grant funding to build a bypass in Westbury on or around 2025 and that all the preparation stuff will start probably next year.”
Cllr King went on to describe how the new route could actually provide links that the South West are lacking, “As the document provided states, there are very few north to south links within the South West of England, most of them go east west, so there’s very big problem with connectivity. This is a vital thing going forward.”
Cllr Sutton added, “My only concern is where this space will be. There’s a nasty suspicion that Wiltshire Council will turn round and say, ‘there’s no space that side, let’s look at the underpass again under the White Horse.’”
