Chippenham relief road plan 'will destroy countryside'

Protesters are campaigning against plans to build a link road, claiming it will "destroy the countryside" and pave the way for 7,500 homes.

More than 130 people gathered for a socially-distanced protest on Riverside Drive, Chippenham, on Saturday.

The plans propose a relief road linking the A350 at the north and south ends of the town.

North Wiltshire MP James Gray said there was "a battle ahead" to "stop the desecration of the countryside".

A £75m funding bid for the scheme was approved by the government last year, which Wiltshire Council said would unlock potential to build thousands of homes.

Ashley O'Neill, town councillor for Wiltshire and Chippenham, said residents in the village of Bremhill would be affected by the proposal.

"If it does go ahead it would see the destruction of the countryside on a scale and at a pace that we have not seen in Wiltshire before," he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"People in the Chippenham and Calne community areas will have to suffer more traffic and extra air pollution, as well as losing valuable green spaces which have become ever more important due to Covid-19 and our changing lifestyles."

Bremhill parish council chairman Ian James said there was a "serious threat to wildlife" along the Marden valley.

"We also consider that there are too many houses to be built on this land and the road is not necessary now because of Covid," he added.

Wiltshire Council leader Philip Whitehead said a public consultation that had been planned for earlier this year "had to be delayed because of Covid-19".

"Local people will now be able to see and comment on the road route options in January when the consultation launches," he added.

"Any new road will only be built if planning is granted for development to proceed."

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