Lorry ban move hit by bypass rejection

A bypass that had been held up as the key to getting a ban on lorries trundling through Bath to and from the south coast has been scrapped at the 11th hour.

Campaigners fighting plans for the £40 million Westbury Bypass were celebrating today after the Government decided not to grant planning permission for the road.

Highway chiefs in Wiltshire had already started lining up workers and supplies of gravel to begin work on the controversial road, but Communities Secretary John Denham today threw out the scheme on the advice of a pair of planning inspectors.

His decision will make the long process of finding a way of steering heavy lorry traffic away from the city centre more complicated, with Bath and North East Somerset Council reliant on the building of the bypass to get approval for a weight limit at a spot such as Cleveland Bridge or Warminster Road.

There has long been concern at the impact of the lorries which come through Bath on their way to and from the south coast, but the most obvious alternative route would be the A350 through Wiltshire, which reaches a bottleneck at Westbury.

City MP Don Foster said there would be mixed feelings over the Government's decision, and he acknowledged that many people in Wiltshire would support the move.

But he said: "Anything that helps get traffic to avoid Bath rather than coming in and going out again would have been welcomed."

The ten-year battle over the three-mile long road around Westbury divided the town and cost taxpayers in Wiltshire £4 million as highway chiefs 'did everything they in their power' to get approval for the road.

Those who had fought against the bypass said they were 'elated and relieved' at a decision that they said would be welcomed 'from Chippenham to the south of Dorset'. The Westbury bypass was a major part of plans to upgrade the A350 from the M4 to Poole.

Pat Kinnersly, from the White Horse Alliance group, said: "It's an amazing decision, totally unprecedented. You don't normally defeat a bypass with just the objections of ordinary people, where the 'authorities' are all in favour.

"It has been a real cliffhanger, but thankfully the inspector agreed with us that this road was not the answer to Westbury's problems, and would not only create more congestion further up and down the road, but would also destroy a beautiful valley and wildlife habitat.

"We had heard that the regional government was putting a great deal of pressure on the Secretary of State to pass this road.

"It just shows what a bad idea it was in the first place, which is what we've been saying for ten years. Having worked on this, unpaid, for ten hours a day, for ten years, I am elated and relieved.

"Now I hope everyone can start looking at real solutions to Westbury's problems, which involve an integrated transport scheme, putting freight on the rails, and easing congestion all along this road."

In a damning report on the bypass idea, Mr Denham said the road would encourage more traffic congestion, damage the environment and that tortuous car journeys on the A350 in West Wiltshire were caused by problems elsewhere anyway.

Wiltshire Council's highways portfolio holder, Cllr Dick Tonge, said the authority was disappointed with the decision: "The decision will come as a blow to many residents and businesses in Westbury.

"We did everything in our power to try to get the scheme off the ground, as we believed it would benefit many residents and businesses in the town, as well as traffic using the A350.

"We will now examine the reasons behind the decision and decide the way forward."

The bypass would have cost £31 million of government money, £4 million from Wiltshire taxpayers, on top of £4 million already spent by the council.

The decision was supported by the Campaign for Better Transport pressure group.

Its Roads and Climate Campaigner Richard George said: "It should come as no surprise to anyone that this road was rejected, because it would have destroyed swathes of countryside but provided very few benefits for the people of Westbury. In fact the inspector found that it would have increased traffic levels along the A350, blighting Yarnbrook and other communities.

"This is just the latest victory for a coalition of local people which has already beaten numerous road building projects along the A350, including the Wellow Bypass, the Salisbury Bypass (and its clones), the Wylye Valley scheme and the Codford-Heytesbury scheme. It's time for Wiltshire and Dorset to drop their plans to build a motorway from Bath to the south coast by stealth, and focus instead on giving people real transport choices."