A NEW road layout and merging the Bridge Centre site with the Bath Road car park opposite are being considered by Wiltshire Council, following recent interest from developers in the area.

The land in the centre of town, which is owned by Wiltshire Council, has remained undeveloped for a number of years.

Now options are once again being looked at to join the Bridge Centre site and Bath Road car park.

Tim Martienssen, head of service for economic development and planning at Wiltshire Council, said: “The aspiration of Wiltshire Council is to bring those two plots of land together.

We’re reviewing changing the road layout.

“We think there are at least two options, which means that I now have a level of evidence to go out and try and find the funding to achieve that change.

“If it is possible we can release one single plot of land for redevelopment, but if it isn’t possible we have to look how those individual plots can be developed.

“We have had some commercial enquires so we know there’s interest.”

A Wiltshire Council spokesman wouldn’t confirm what companies had registered an interest in the site but did confirm that it had been contacted in the last few months.

The Bridge Centre land is currently being used as a car park by Wiltshire Council staff, after the building was demolished last year.

The current roundabout around the former centre, with its traffic lights at the bottom of Avenue La Fleche, is seen by many drivers as one of the worst causes of delays in the town.

Councillor Desna Allen, leader of Chippenham Town Council, said: “The merging of the two sites is what I was told would happen ten years ago but then I was told it was too expensive.

“I think it would make the site more attractive [to join them together].

“I would like to see a multi-storey carpark or some artisan shops, start-up units and businesses so that local people can showcase their products.

“I want to make it a place people want to go to.”

In 2011, Wiltshire Council signed a deal with developer ING to build a shopping centre on the site, which eventually fell through.

Coun Bill Douglas said: “We’ve been waiting four years for a developer and in the present climate with Brexit, because no one knows what’s going to happen, nobody in the big businesses are going to take a plot of land.”