* On the attached diagram, you can see the current approach off the A365 through an area of light industry, and a new approach off the A350 which is already in place up to a fence just beyond the roundabout.  These are in BROWN.

* The section in GREEN is an earth pile about 1 metre tall - waste land covered in nettles which stretches about 12 metres from the fence to the chipping covered roadway shown in RED.

* The RED chipping covered roadway stretches about 60 metres to the start of the tarmac on the approach to the station.

1. The access to the new road section has been provided by the developers of that area, Bloors Homes, as a prerequisite of their planning permission, with the roundabout already provided with the exit we need.

2. The land shown in Green and Red (on which the works would be undertaken) is owned by the British Rail Residuary Body, who withdrew it from auction after local pressure last autumn. It is specifically set aside by the council for possible future access improvements to the station.

3. The current service of 4 trains per day (2 on Sundays) may be drastically improved from this coming December.  The train operators, the county council, and the Department for Transport are looking at various options, the favourites of which are services that include a train calling every 60 minues or every 90 minutes. However, these organisations are also calling for local shows of support such as this bid.

4. Melksham has a population or around 24,000 with heavy travel flows to Chippenham, and Swidndon (served by the train) and other destinations. However, current usage of the trains is poor due to the bad timings (06:19 and 18:42 ONLY from Swindon) and the lack of ongoing public transport from the station.  I understand from traffic officers at the county that the 2km catchement area around the station houses more people than other Wiltshire stations, and that a passenger flow of around 1000 journeys per day would be anticipated if the station had equal per-capita flows to the other stations in the county.

5. The Town bus passes the two new station approaches every 30 minutes, and we understand that it would be diverted past the station given a through road and a train service to connect with.  We are less sure that the operator of other main road buses would divert them past the station in the short term, although we can make a strong case commercially and otherwise to them.