Maiden Bradley residents stage protest over HGV traffic

Residents in a Wiltshire village say they are "intimidated" by the number of lorries that pass through every day.

Campaigners in Maiden Bradley say up to 1,000 lorries per day squeeze down its narrow streets.

They say Wiltshire Council promised to impose a weight restriction in 2011 but has so far failed to do so.

The council says it has to wait for guidance to be published by the Department for Transport (DfT) before it can act.

Villagers staged a protest on Friday - partially blocking the road and slowing the traffic passing through Maiden Bradley.

Resident Martin Brown told BBC West: "My wife and I have lived in this village for 30 years and the situation with HGVs particularly is getting progressively worse.

"We now have grandchildren and we are really afraid for them to walk along this road unescorted."

Dr Alex Channer estimates between 650 to 1,000 lorries pass through Maiden Bradley in a 24-hour period.

"These pavements are really narrow and if a massive 44 tonne lorry is coming past you, it is very intimidating."

Campaigners said they invited a representative of the council to meet with them on Friday, but the council declined.

Councillor Dr Mark McClelland, Cabinet Member for Transport, said: "We are committed to working with all parties to help resolve this issue, but now is not the right time to meet again in the village, as we are waiting on guidance from the DfT.

"A reduction of HGVs in Maiden Bradley can only be achieved through our freight strategy, and we can only move forward with this once DfT has released its Local Transport Plan guidelines."

He added: "We look forward to progress being made on this issue, and once the guidelines have been published, we will agree a new date to meet in the new year."

Andrew Murrison, MP for South West Wiltshire, attended the protest on Friday.

Mr Murrison said: "Residents are simply fed up, they are saying 'no more', these roads can't take this heavy traffic, it needs to go down the strategic routes that were built for the purpose and off these streets and I entirely endorse that.

"We can do something about restricting heavy traffic - let's just do it."

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