Basil Hill Traffic Management - is this really a solution?

Funny things are going on in Corsham at the moment. An exhibition has sprung up at short notice in the Town Hall today and is going to be on Neston Memorial Hall tomorrow 3pm - 7pm to show the planned alterations to traffic movement along the A4 in Pickwick, and Leafy Lane. What makes it odd is that is not the public consultation exercise as it may first appear - planning permissions were granted last year as this is tied in with the MOD Basil Hill developments. The works are costing millions and people are starting to ask why is all this necessary?


The reality is that this is not just about Basil Hill but about an apparent attempt to 'future proof' the A4 against future traffic growth and in particular future development of the land currently occupied by the MOD at Copernacre, Rudloe etc for other uses.


The exhibition is being staged now to pre-empt a possible angry scene at next week's first Area Board meeting on Tuesday 21 July 7pm in the Town Hall because local people are understandably really concerned about the blinkered approach to the way these proposals have been put together.


'Consultants' have been paid a small fortune to come up with a plan to addresses the future growth of traffic on the A4. In my view this was the wrong question! They should looking at the bigger picture here. First of all a few facts:

• There are currently no other proposals for development on the existing Copernacre / Rudloe sites

• There are currently limited traffic flow problems along the A4.

• The Basil Hill developments, once completed, will apparently generate no additional traffic in this area.

• Any existing or potential traffic speed issues are ignored in these proposals

• Pickwick is a conservation area and the addition of traffic lights is yet another addition of further unnecessary street clutter - exemplifying English Heritage's recent report on the decay and neglect of our conservation areas across the country from 'Cluttered streets' and 'intrusive traffic-calming measures'.

• The proposed works would not help to prevent a repeat of the recent tragic accident at the Bradford Road Junction

• The proposed shared cycle / footpath runs the length of Park Lane but the cyclists entrance to the Basil Hill site is still shown on Westwells Road along with the cars entrance - hardly an incentive to cycle from Corsham to work at Basil Hill.

• Although discussed there is no evidence as to how the cycle routes are planned to connect to the cycle routesto link with the Town Centre or Box

• Despite the apparent money available there is not even a single bus stop shown on the plans so public transport will be simply a last minute add on to the plans.

• A possible link to the rail service, despite enthusiasm from the MOD itself does not figure in any of the proposals

• I asked if cabling etc for real time bus information was being installed - I was told no but it could be added later - so the roads would be dug up as soon as they are laid. How daft is that?

My main concern is that the starting point for the consultation was all about traffic flow. There is apparently £450K (money from Basil Hill and Spring Park developments) for public transport improvements. This sounds a lot but there is currently not a single proposal as to how any public transport improvements could be made - not even a bus stop is shown on the map so once again we consider public transport as a last resort rather the natural default way of travelling in this country. Why could there not have been a more holistic approach to the whole consultation which considered cars, buses, trains, cycling, walking all together in the same proposal and on the same map? Everything starts from the assumption that everyone will simpy get in their cars and drive!

I do hope lots of people will turn up for the first Area Board meeting next Tuesday. We need to show the new Board that local people really do care and want their voice to be heard. Just because planning permission has been granted does not mean that the plans have to be implemented as they are currently presented or that they are necessarily the best solution to a perceived future problem.

It could be a lively meeting!

More Double Yellow Lines?

As many of you will know there are plans to change the parking arrangements in Pound Pill and in Station Road. Much of this seems to make sense as it can be chaotic at times in both these areas and also quite dangerous as a pedestrian or cyclist when cars mount or park on the pavements.

Part of the plan involves putting double yellow lines down the west side of both roads with defined parking bays on the east side. One of the effects of this will be to make traffic flow more easily which sounds good on one level but will also mean that the traffic will be moving faster - and in an area where there is a lot of pedestrian movement associated with schools, Jargeau Court and The Pound arts centre.

It is also likely that it will simply push the parking problem elsewhere and I am aware that there are concerns from residents in Grove Road and other areas that those roads would then become the unofficial free car parks for the town centre.

All this will be discussed at the next Corsham Town Council Planning meeting on 24 June at 7.30pm in the Town Hall . Make sure you are there if you want your views heard! Sadly I will NOT be there as I shall be in the middle of Corsham Festival!

It is a national outrage that currently nearly 3,000 people are killed on our roads each year - nearly as many badgers are killed on our roads - and think how often you have seen a dead badger on the roads! Surely anything that can help to reduce this appalling statistic and make our town centres a more pleasant place to live, shop and work at the same time must be good thing.

My view is that there needs to be more of a balance between traffic calming and parking regulation as part of an integrated approach to the whole issue surrounding transport management. There is a recognition that parked cars can actually help to calm the speed of traffic if planned carefully. I am aware from the Community Plan update that concern regarding traffic management and control were among resident's number one concern for the Corsham Community Area.

A very interesting blog I have been following is that of Philip Booth http://www.ruscombegreen.blogspot.com/ - a district councillor for Stroud District Council who has been lobbying for '20 is Plenty' in the Stroud area. 20mph is largely accepted as a way of saving lives, preventing injuries, encouraging more walking and cycling and making our streets more pleasant to live on. This is something that the TransCoCo Transport group could consider as one of its aims - and CCAN, the Partnership for the Corsham Community Area. What are your views on this - would this help to make the streets of Corsham more people friendly and safer?

A Three Horse Race

Disappointed? Yes, of course but also energised by the whole campaign and overwhelmed by the level of support and encouragement from people within the town as well as from outside. This one was always going to be difficult to predict and there was clearly a sense of 'better the devil you know' and a tendency for people to revert back to 'safe mode' at the ballot box. The turnout was high at nearly 55% which does show people want to engage with the political system after all and make their views known.

It is a shame because I know I could have done a great job - and an important job in bringing some fresh thinking and energy to the new council. But what is really interesting is that Peter Davies has only a little more than a third of the vote - hardly a majority mandate from the people of Corsham.

Allan Bosley, the other independent candidate over in Corsham Pickwick, also deserves many congratulations for a splendid performance and a very similar result.

My biggest concern is that all four seats on our new area board are now Tory, in a Unitary Wiltshire Council with a two thirds Tory majority, and with a likely Tory government in the near future - hardly a healthy situation for us moving forward. So I feel my role is even more important - to ensure the new regime is held to their promise to allow local communities to have a greater say and influence on what happens in their locality, to ensure the area board really does take forward the vision of the Corsham community as expressed in the Community plan update, and above all to ensure it is certainly not 'business as usual in the new authority.

However, I do now feel more empowered than ever through Corsham Town Council, The Area Partnership 'CCAN' and Transition Community Corsham to work towards making Corsham a better place to live, to work and to visit and look forward to the challenges ahead

I plan to continue my blog and hope it will develop into a valuable interactive forum for local people. Thank you all for you support over the past few weeks. It has certainly been worth it.