A Tale of Two Councils over roadworks

It was a tale of two councils in Marlborough this week over the best way to tackle traffic chaos that the Chamber of Commerce says is costing the retail economy alone £200,000 a week.

A summer of gas main road works has been followed by months of motoring misery as a bridge – one of only two road crossings over the River Kennet – is replaced.

The Chamber of Commerce’s Retail Forum has been fighting hard to achieve some kind of concession for the trading community, which has been hit hard by traffic chaos which, at peak times, can see the quarter-mile journey from the edge of town to the centre take motorists over an hour.

The bridge works were phased to avoid July’s Jazz Festival and October’s two Mop Fairs, which result in the closure of the High Street. But traders are angry that the important run-up to Christmas seems not to have featured in the scheduling.

Following a meeting between traders, councillors and council officials last month, organised by the Chamber of Commerce, the Retail Forum issued a list of requests to both Marlborough Town Council and Wiltshire Council.

Responses were received this week. But while the county rejected many of the requests made by traders, Marlborough Town Council, at a meeting on Monday, voted to open part of Marlborough Common as a free car park with immediate effect.

The new car park means that workers and shoppers approaching town from the Swindon direction will be able to park at no cost and enjoy a five-minute downhill stroll to town. The only downside is the uphill slog at the end of the day.

The only request refused by Marlborough Town Council was to move the Mop Fair to The Common, which traders said would alleviate the pressure of two ‘dead weekends’ when High Street is closed to a fun fair and shoppers avoid the town.

But Mop Fair – last sole surviving Mop in Wiltshire – was granted by Royal Charter and it would take an act of Parliament to sanction a move.

Meanwhile, Wiltshire Council rejected calls to keep the bridge open between Mop Fair and Christmas, although Highways and Transport director Parvis Khansari did offer to review the scheduling to determine if the bridge could be re-opened in the weeks before Christmas.

But a plea to introduce short-term periods of free parking to lure back shoppers was rejected out of hand. “The costs would be significant, and with the current funding situation this is not something that this Council would be able to contribute to”, said Mr Khansari.

And traders are angry that even simple requests, like diverting holiday and haulage traffic away from the town and towards the recognized ‘strategic route’ of the A34 Newbury bypass, have not been acted on.

Even a call to allow a two-way flow of traffic out of the town’s main Hillier’s Yard and George Lane car parks fell on deaf ears. Traders said a two-way flow would allow drivers to leave the car park without adding to the traffic queues, and pointed out that many motorists were already driving quickly up the one-way street.

“They wait at the bottom of the car park until there´s no one coming down from the High Street and then ´gun´ it. This is obviously very dangerous as both drivers and pedestrians are not expecting vehicles coming from that direction. However, if there were clear signs in place with maybe a 10mph speed limit then it would be safe enough,” said Chris Birkett, who chairs the Chamber of Commerce Retail Forum.

“I´m very disappointed that the County Council cannot provide any form of free parking to entice customers back into town. The car park charges were actually put up on the very day that the bridge was closed.

“This gets noticed by local residents and visitors to the town and puts them off from visiting again. Can the County Council not come up with anything that would help the town survive and bring customers back?” he asked.

The Retail Forum recently distributed Rates Relief application forms amongst traders and is submitting a joint application for a business rates refund for 35 shopkeepers to Wiltshire Council.

The Chamber has also enlisted the support of MP Claire Perry, who will be meeting with traders on September 3.