Chippenham Bridge Centre regeneration plans are 'unlikely'

The Chippenham Neighbourhood Plan, a 144-page document six years in the making, is under inspection by independent examiner Andrew Mattheson, following a public consultation.

If the plan is adopted, it will hold weight on planning decisions made about issues in the town.

One of the most controversial is the potential development of the Bridge Centre site and the nearby Bath Road Car Park.

The Wiltshire Council-owned land, which housed a former youth centre demolished six years ago, was labelled a “longstanding blight” on Chippenham by the town council-produced document.

The proposal for the area, which is intended as a guide for any future developers, includes a “new public square”, surrounded by shops restaurants and cafes, to create an “extension to the town centre.”

The Bridge Centre Roundabout in Chippenham (Image: Newsquest)But town councillor Matthew Short, a member of the neighbourhood plan steering group, warned any development could be a long way off.

He said: “This is the type of application that might work if a developer came along but it would take a lot of money.

“Even if the plan gets approved by referendum, the chances of anything like that happening at the Bridge Centre are, I think, still quite removed and if anything was done it would probably need to be in two stages because of traffic management.

“It could be really nice and retain some car parking, but it’s hard to see someone come along with the money and I think it still might be too controversial to be developed in the near term.”

If any plans did come to fruition, it could see the eastern side of the roundabout scrapped and the western side turned into a two-way street to incorporate the zone into the town centre.

Some feedback from the public consultation welcomed the development of the site, but “serious concern” was raised about parking provision if the Bath Road Car Park was removed.

The Bath Road Car Park (Image: Newsquest)But Cllr Short believes short-term changes are more likely to occur at the town’s underutilised river area.

In the meantime, he is working to ensure all areas of Chippenham are more “vibrant” and sustainable.

He added: “The most important parts of the plan for me are the policies for sustainable construction and local green space.

“We get planning applications for hundreds of houses that aren’t future proof and that’s why I’ve been pushing so hard on the plan, so we have planning laws to make them efficient to run.”