TRADERS and the Marlborough Jazz Festival committee are not singing from the same hymn sheet when it comes to road closures as the issue came to a head once again on Tuesday evening.

Residents and traders were out in force at the Marlborough Town Council meeting to voice their grievances with the proposed closure of New Road, the High Street, Kingsbury Street and The Parade between 10am and 11pm on July 18.

The Marlborough High Street Retailers Association (MHSRA) has formally objected to road closures before 5pm which they say are damaging to the trade in the town. It says the main reason for the closures is to accommodate the bandstand on New Street.

Resident Audrey Peck said: “Instead of having a lot of happy people and on the other hand a lot of inconvenienced people can’t we move the bandstand and then we can have everybody winning.”

Paul Collis, of Valentiner Designs, added: “The road closures for the forthcoming Jazz Festival are merely to allow the bandstand on New Street to be in its proposed location and if it were not in that location the road closures would not be required.”

Founder of the Jazz Festival, organised by the Marlborough Arts Association, Nick Fogg explained that the road closures are applied for on the advice of the Wiltshire police on grounds of public safety at an event which attracts thousands of people.

He said: “The small body of people who oppose the street closures make the rather bizarre assumption that those who attend the jazz weekend do not spend any money.

"In fact, the Arts Council estimates that the weekend brings around £500,000 into the town over the weekend. It also estimates that 75 per cent of those visiting a festival such as the one at Marlborough will make a return visit.

“It is highly probable that any shortfall for some businesses is more than made up subsequently.

“It may be regarded as highly significant that every cash point in town was empty by the Sunday of the last jazz festival."

As stakeholder consultees, the town council has been asked to consider the road closures by Wiltshire Council which will make the final decision.

The town council decided to try to get traders, the jazz festival committee and representatives from the town council together one last time looking at all possible alternatives and timings for road closures.

Issues include health and safety, whether event management is in place, if alternative venues for the bandstand have been considered and evidence of crowding in the High Street during the jazz festival.

The meeting has to take place before the next planning meeting on Monday.