| Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
A350 to get all of Bath's unwanted HGVs? - 456/1331 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Friday, 1st September 2006 An interesting article in the Bath Chronicle (see here) describes how the City's leaders will be voting next week to ban lorries from the City, and that they're even going to be paying for signage to divert lorries coming up the A36 to the motorway OFF the A36 / A46, and onto the A350 through Westbury, Yarnbrook, Melksham, Beanacre and Chippenham. The article says that they've consulted on this, and it's what the people of Bath want. 1. Can they, unilaterally, put this ban in place and/or do they already have approval from Wiltshire / North Wilts / West Wilts? 2. What will the effect of adding all the extra through HGVs from Warminster to the M4 be on the A350, a road that has major sections that were never designed as a trunk road? 3. The people of Bath have been asked. Re: A350 to get all of Bath's unwanted HGVs? - 456/1334 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Friday, 1st September 2006 Here's a map showing how an extra section of road (about 1 km in length) from the A36 near Holcombe Farm to A4 near Bathampton Farm would take all of the A36 to motorway HGVs away from Bath city centre without sending them a huge extra distance via Westbury, Melksham and Chippenham along roads that were not built for such traffic.  Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland Re: A350 to get all of Bath's unwanted HGVs? - 456/1340 Written by Nick Field on Friday, 1st September 2006 I have heard about the scheme to put another link road in from the A36 to the A4 in Bath, which seems like a good idea. I think though that when the Batheaston Bypass was originally built this idea was rejected; but now people seem to be in favour of it. I dont think anyone in Wiltshire has been consulted with regards to re routing via the A350, at least as far as I know. What impeccable timing this could be for folk who are no longer able to use the train! I always thought traffic from Southampton / the South Coast area heading towards Bristol and the West was advised to go via the A34 and join the M4 at Newbury. If only these decision makers would talk to each other! Re: A350 to get all of Bath's unwanted HGVs? - 456/1343 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Friday, 1st September 2006 [quote author=Nick Field link=topic=456.msg1340#msg1340 date=1157117537] I dont think anyone in Wiltshire has been consulted with regards to re routing via the A350[/quote] A contact at BaNES writes: Consultation to date has been limited mainly to the Bath & North East Somerset area, although the proposals have previously been reported in the Bath Chronicle. In other words, yes, you're right Nick. I suspect that the A34 / M4 route advise IS given, but that's such a long way roundand time is money for HGVs, so they'll use shorter routes is allowed. By that way, I've also got confirmation that the A36 to A4 link at Batheaston is still live / possible but that wouldn't be actually built for a few years and they're looking for an interim solution. Re: A350 to get all of Bath's unwanted HGVs? - 456/1378 Written by Lee on Monday, 4th September 2006 Not directly related , but I thought that you might be interested in this article anyway (link below.) http://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/latestheadlines/display.var.903842.0.petition_to_stop_lorries_ratrun.php Re: A350 to get all of Bath's unwanted HGVs? - 456/12853 Written by Lee on Saturday, 17th January 2009 A proposed HGV ban in Bath city centre hinges on the results of a public inquiry into a bypass for Westbury (link below.) http://www.roadtransport.com/Articles/2009/01/15/132697/bath-hgv-ban-depends-on-westbury-bypass-inquiry.html Bath and North East Somerset Council would like to introduce a weight restriction on the A36 along the Warminster Road, Cleveland Bridge and Bathwick Street areas of Bath. However such a move would divert traffic travelling south through the town on to the A350 and would therefore require the agreement of Wiltshire County Council. But Wiltshire County Council is waiting for the outcome of a public inquiry conducted last year into the viability of a Westbury bypass on the A350. In a statement, Wiltshire County Council says it will object to Bath's plans until traffic management and environmental improvements are made to the A350, in particular the Westbury bypass, in order to mitigate the diversion of lorries from the A36 through Bath. Re: A350 to get all of Bath's unwanted HGVs? - 456/12858 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Monday, 26th January 2009 [quote author=Lee link=topic=456.msg12853#msg12853 date=1232186444] In a statement, Wiltshire County Council says it will object to Bath's plans until traffic management and environmental improvements are made to the A350, in particular the Westbury bypass, in order to mitigate the diversion of lorries from the A36 through Bath. [/quote] The article also says (word for word "Such a ban would require agreement from Wiltshire County Council as they would have to accommodate a significant number of HGVs that would divert from Bath as a result." Reading that wording very carefully, and seeing the words "in particular" - would I be correct in understanding that Wiltshire are minded to say "yes, send your lorry traffic our way IF ...." and that "if" relates to there being (a) approval for the Westbury bypass, (b) other improvements (perhaps dealing with Yarnbrook, which is the worst jam on the road in my experince) for example but that they have NOT specified that it should depend on improvements to the parallel rail service which would help pull car traffic off the road? link to index of articles |
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Save the Train was the campaign to bring an approriate train service back to and through Melksham. Most big contributors are still around writing at the Coffee shop forum where new members are very welcome. The train has been saved - sort of - we have stepped back up from an unusable service to a poorish one but it's doing very well. We did that through setting up the TransWilts Community Rail Partnership. That fulfilled its early objectives; it has been taken over by local and regional government types who are now doing medium and long term work. The team from this forun can also be found at the Melksham Rail User Group (which was the Melksham Rail Development Group at the time these articles were written and we had no users. We mustn't loose sight, though, that the train service remains poor and needs our community support in marketing and campaigning to keep it going in a positive direction ... and all the more so when we're expecting to find a different normallity once we get out of the Coronavirus Pandemic and head for zero carbon via the climate crisis. Yes, it's saved ... it's now a key community facility ... the need for enhancement and the strong and near-universal local support remain, and the rail industry and goverment remain slow to move and provide the enhancements even to level us up with other towns. Please support the Melksham Rail User Group - now very much in partnership rather than protest with the rail industry and local government, including GWR, TransWilts and unitary and town councils. And please use the trains and buses, and cycle and walk when you can. -- Graham Ellis, (webmaster), February 2021 | |||
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