Consultation on the Future Chippenham road route options launches this week

Wiltshire Council will soon be unveiling the road route options for a potential distributor road in Chippenham and is inviting residents and businesses to comment on the proposals.

During an eight-week public consultation period, which starts on Friday 15 January 2021, people can view and comment on three distributor road options and two link road options to Pewsham Way.

The distributor road route options have been split into five geographical zones so people can comment on sections of the road options within that zone.

People will be able to give their views by completing the online consultation form at www.wiltshire.gov.uk/future-chippenham, emailing the downloadable consultation form to futurechippenham@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window) or posting the form to the Future Chippenham team, Wiltshire Council, County Hall, Bythesea Road, Trowbridge, Wiltshire BA14 8JN. Written comments can also be submitted by email or post to the above addresses.

People can contact Wiltshire Council's Customer Services on 0300 345 0100 if they need help completing the consultation form or require the consultation material as a paper copy or in a different format.

Hard copies of the consultation material and consultation form will also be available from the reception desk at the Monkton Park office, Monkton Hill, Chippenham SN15 1ER.

Philip Whitehead, Leader of Wiltshire Council, said: "It is really important that people have the opportunity to comment on these proposals. As we are unable to hold public exhibitions at the present time due to COVID-19 restrictions, we have provided the consultation information in a variety of ways such as a flythrough, video and leaflet to explain the proposals in greater detail. Additional supporting documentation will be available on the consultation webpage to help give further context to the proposals.

"We will also hold two live online public webinars where the project team will give a presentation on the proposals followed by a question and answer session. We would encourage people to register as soon as possible.

"The feedback will help select the final route within each of the five zones with the preferred route for the distributor road and link road to Pewsham Way being presented to the public in summer 2021."

Anyone interested in attending the free webinars can register via Eventbrite. The first webinar is being held on Thursday 28 January 2021 at 11am (opens new window) with a further webinar being arranged for February.

Once registered a link will be sent across to access the webinar which will be broadcast via Microsoft Teams.

Anyone wishing to ask questions about the proposals will be encouraged to submit these in advance by emailing futurechippenham@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window) stating 'Questions for Webinar' in the heading and which of the two webinars they will be attending.

The webinars will be recorded and will be available via the council's YouTube channel (opens new window).

This public consultation is the next key stage in the Future Chippenham programme and follows on from the council entering into funding agreement with Homes England last month, securing £75 million of Housing Infrastructure Funding.

This grant ensures funding is available to contribute towards the cost of delivering the strategic infrastructure in and around Chippenham to support the potential longer-term growth of the area, should development come forward as part of the Local Plan process.

The consultation closes at 5pm on Friday 12 March 2021.