Andrew today chaired a meeting at The Bradley Hare in Maiden Bradley to examine the removal of heavy traffic from Maiden Bradley, Corsley and Chapmanslade with highways authority officials.
Representatives from the three parish councils, the Deverills and the Maiden Bradley Weight Watchers group met with Wiltshire Council transport portfolio holder Cllr Dr Mark McLelland and local member Cllr Bill Parks and roads officials.
It was agreed that each village had to be considered Individually as their situations differ but that there was a common factor which is the weight of traffic currently permitted to drive through them, notably to access quarries in Somerset.
Andrew said;
"Until recently the prospect of improvements on the A303 and the consequential impact on the minor roads through the three villages meant plans to remove heavy traffic from them drafted years ago had been put on hold. If plans to improve the A303 at some point was ever a tenable argument for not doing something about the minor roads, it is no longer since the A303 grand scheme is now a distant prospect. We need action now to remove heavy traffic from the three villages.
"The meeting did accept that traffic data - now more than a decade old - needed updating but wanted it done more quickly than the council's local transport planning process allowed. The council accepted that. It agreed to meet with us again in July with a brief for how this will be done. It will meet with us again by December once the new data has been collected and compared with existing. Modelling will then tell us the likely impact of, for example, weight restrictions on traffic flows in the three villages and beyond.
The meeting noted with approval assurances from officials that technical advances meant collecting and updating traffic data was less onerous, drawn out and expensive than was the case ten years ago.
The council undertook to report back also on anomalous weight restrictions that specifically impact on Corsley and the proposition that weight restrictions could be more readily enforced in Chapmanslade that would not have wider traffic flow implications.
Alex Channer, member of Maiden Bradley Weightwatchers, and speaking on behalf of the three villages said,
“Our three villages are united in our commitment to end the blight of HGVs on our rural communities. We look forward to working with Wiltshire Council and our MP over the next six months to update impact data and agree on practical actions to improve our villagers’ lives without further delay.”