RESIDENTS and councillors are warning that the A361 Frome Road near Southwick Country Park could become a high-risk zone if three planned new housing developments totalling 285 homes are built.

Councillor David Vigar, who represents Trowbridge Grove on Wiltshire Council, said: “These plans would see a quadrupling in the number of homes from which traffic turns onto the busy Frome Road between the country park and St John’s Church. This must increase risks of accidents and congestion. Yet we have seen no detailed assessment of these risks from Wiltshire’s Highways Department.”

The planned estates would mean 180 housing units being built at Southwick Court Fields, south of Boundary Walk, 50 units at Upper Studley, behind Spring Meadow, and 55 units south of Church Lane. 

The three sites are allocated for housing development in the adopted Wiltshire Housing Site Allocations Plan 2020.

There is a 40mph speed limit between Southwick and Trowbridge which ends with 30mph signs located close to where the entrance to the Upper Studley estate would be.

There are around 80 homes from which traffic turns on and off Frome Road from four T-junctions at Church Lane, The Poplars, Oldbrick Fields and The Nestings. The new estates would add another 285 units with access via three new T-junctions, all within a stretch of around 250 metres.    

Jo Hodge, of Church Lane, said: “I often wait for ages already to get out onto Frome Road by car. It will get much more congested and risky with all those extra houses.”

Carol Tibbert, of Balmoral Road, said: “Frome Road is a very dangerous road. We should be making it safer, not pouring more and more traffic onto it.”

Steve Wylie, also of Church Lane, added: “We already see many vehicles speeding along Frome Road far in excess of 40mph. This stretch of road is like a 'boy racers' skid pan in the evenings.

“With narrow pavements on one side only and no cycle lanes, there are real fears that adding more houses and junctions here will lead to more fatalities.”

Local resident Simon Tesler added: “As the only A-road that passes through Trowbridge, the A361 is the town’s single most important transport artery.

]"It’s absurd that no proper consideration has been given to the huge additional congestion that will be caused by three major new housing developments.

"This road is already choked by heavy goods vehicles, by rush hour traffic twice every day, and on Saturdays by visitors to Southwick Country Park. How much worse will this be with the traffic from more than 280 new homes, whose only vehicle access route this will be?”

Residents are particularly concerned about risks on Saturday mornings when cars are parked along the road for the popular Southwick Country Park Fun Run. There are also fears of traffic jams in the morning rush hour as primary school age children are expected to be driven to school in the town centre as local schools are already operating at high capacity.

The only comment from Wiltshire’s Highways team on any of the planning applications’ consists of emails from March and April 2021 suggesting that each site will be “served by a simple priority junction”, with a pedestrian island, a light-controlled crossing and a southward shifting of the current 30mph sign.

Cllr Nick Botterill, Wiltshire Council's Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning, said: “As these are live planning applications it is not possible for us to make comments at this time.

“Representations from interested parties will be taken into account in the consideration of these applications, including in relation to highway safety.”