10:33am Thursday 28th December 2006
By Charley Morgan
PLANS to redevelop Melksham town centre appear to have hit a stumbling block as a row has developed between two of the organisers.
The Melksham 1st group has infuriated Wiltshire County Council by saying it would only support the project if there was a full public consultation.
The county council's assistant director of planning and development, Alan Feist, wrote to the town council to inform them that Melksham 1st would no longer be part of a new steering group for the project and asking them to confirm its support, which it has since done.
Mr Feist said in the letter: "The failure of Melksham 1st to lend support to a project, that was influenced and guided by their representatives at the steering group meetings, is disappointing, to say the least."
But Caroline Beale, of Melksham 1st, denied there was a rift, saying: "We were asked whether we would support improvements and we said that we would as long as adequate public consultation was carried out. I think basically they just took it out of context.
"I think Wiltshire County Council would like us to say we support everything they did. But the public are going to come back to us and say Owhy did you support that when there was not adequate consultation?"
"We cannot give block support to something."
She added that Melksham 1st had not been informed they were to be excluded from a future steering group.
The planned improvements centre on the junction of High Street and Church Street.
The key proposals are to widen the footpaths at the junction, restrict heavy goods vehicles on the High Street between Church Street and Bank Street and impose a 7.5 tonne weight restriction.
New paving and improvements to the look of the street are also suggested, with a further proposal that the right-turn ban into Church Street is maintained.
Benefits could include reduced traffic speed, fewer heavy goods vehicles, fewer obstructions caused by unloading vehicles, more space for pedestrians and safer places for pedestrians to cross the road.
Spencer Drinkwater, of the council's environmental services department, said: "We have spent a lot of time on this - these things are very expensive and if we are going to take it forward we need to make sure it is what everybody wants."
He said the general consensus that came out of a consultation carried out in 2003 by the council's contractor Mouchel Parkman, was that the public supported the project.
There will now be a consultation with stakeholders including the town's chamber of commerce, walking and cycling groups, the town council, the police and bus operators, including First.
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