Wiltshire Council condemns scrapped Melksham bypass scheme

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 25 Oct, 06:02 · Archive

Wiltshire Council has demanded the Government reconsider abandoning a planned £300m bypass around Melksham on the A350.

Wiltshire Council has passed a motion formally registering its disappointment at the Government's decision not to progress the Melksham bypass through the Major Road Network programme. The motion was backed overwhelmingly at an emergency council debate on 20 October, shortly after the funding withdrawal was announced.

Counsellor Jon Hubbard said 24 people had been killed or seriously injured on the A350 between Chippenham and Melksham over five years, averaging roughly one every 11 weeks. He said residents experience this not as a statistic but as specific tragedies: 'a Tuesday morning, as a telephone call, as a knock on a door in Beanacre while the kettle is still on'.

Hubbard accused the Government of inconsistency, saying it had improved the route around Chippenham but abandoned Melksham despite the road through the town and Beanacre being described as 'substandard' in the Government's own programme. He argued: 'This is not an affordability decision. This is a decision about whose safety is worth protecting.' The council is now demanding continued investment in the A350 and a refund of over £500,000 it spent developing the bypass scheme.

How it is being reported

• Town 'abandoned' as crashes and traffic pile up on 'substandard' roadSomeone is killed or seriously injured on a notorious stretch of a Wiltshire road roughly once every 11 weeks.Gazette & Herald · 25 Oct, 05:00
• Town 'abandoned' as crashes and traffic pile up on 'substandard' roadSomeone is killed or seriously injured on a notorious stretch of a Wiltshire road roughly once every 11 weeks.Wiltshire Times · 25 Oct, 05:00

In this story: Wiltshire Council · Jon Hubbard · Melksham · A350 · Chippenham · Beanacre

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