PEOPLE angry at traffic and pollution caused by lorries are taking on the companies which send their HGVs through the town.

The anti-traffic group will lobby companies sending lorries through Marlborough and challenge them to re-route their vehicles onto larger roads.

People will track how many HGVs travel past their homes on Friday as part of a co-ordinated Lorry Watch, and present their findings to Marlborough area board.

The group of people, many of whom have never met , joined forces through social media after being disappointed by the results of a residents’ meeting in September.

During the meeting Wiltshire Council stated that Marlborough would not be prioritised over other towns when it came to banning HGVs, and added that any change would take significant time.

The meeting also heard figures that suggested the number of lorries using Marlborough had dropped from 1,958 a day in 2004 to 726 in 2016.

Organiser Gaye Denyer has lived in Herd Street for more than four years and in Marlborough for 14 years and said: “I think Wiltshire Council thought when they left the meeting that that would be it, but it actually just spurred us on. We need to keep putting pressure on them to do something to improve our roads. Why don’t they deal with the cause and not the effect?

“There are claims that there are fewer lorries, but the lorries are much bigger than before.”

Mrs Denyer believes that both air quality and road safety dangers in the town would improve if fewer HGVs we on the roads.

She said: “I sometimes walk my grandson down Barn Street and we always go single file. There are mums with their prams using that road and there will always be people going to St John’s or the new school.

“It’s is getting darker now and the lorries mount the kerb there. They either do not see people or they do not care.”

Cllr Stewart Dobson, who is a member of Marlborough area board, said: “I think this count is a positive step forward and could provide some useful results. It is something well worth doing and I’m sure the Area Board will be happy to have this knowledge about what companies are coming through Marlborough and see whether we can encourage them to change their route.

“Following that meeting I was disappointed that the Town Council didn’t feel they wanted to put in a mini round about at the top of Herd Street until they have done a whole town survey through Marlborough.”

Cllr Dobson added that he believed that the use of speed indicator devices in Marlborough could improve road safety by slowing down traffic.

A Wiltshire Council spokesman said: “Previous comprehensive freight studies concluded that around three quarters of all HGV traffic was local, or making deliveries within the local area. However we are very happy to look at more recent data collected at a local level.”

“We are aware of local concerns relating to HGVs using the North – South Primary Route through Marlborough.