Congestion will rise (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Congestion will rise

12:00pm Thursday 5th April 2012 in Letters

I understand that there is an ongoing threat of developers moving in to the Chippenham area. Please do everything possible to prevent this.

Chippenham’s saving grace is its beautiful, rural aspect and it is those areas that are targeted by developers.

Chippenham cannot support more traffic congestion and further parking problems.

It is the rural aspect that makes Chippenham appealing, and which improves the quality of life in what is a drab little town.

Where will new residents go for specialised medical care and for serious medical problems and for accidents and emergencies?

Where will the new people find employment? The last thing we need are more industrial estates.

Will they have to commute daily to other towns and cities? If so, it will add to the parking problems around the station. It will add to the congestion on Station Hill.

It will add to the traffic congestion problems for owners and residents in Monkton Park. It will add to the traffic congestion for students and staff at Wiltshire College and for people using the Olympiad. It will add to congestion on the main arterial or trunk roads feeding the town. It will add to congestion towards the motorway.

Those very commuters will spend their money in the areas where they are employed as they will probably not be in Chippenham during shopping hours.

What benefit then, would new housing estates bring to Chippenham?

Historically, Chippenham has been, and still is, marketed as a ‘market town’. If the proposed development takes place, Chippenham will have to be marketed as a ‘commuter town’.

Let us hope and pray that the present councillors act responsibly, to preserve the green areas of Wiltshire.

Joan Ryder, Carrick Close, Chippenham.