"The traffic in Melksham seems to be getting much busier" ... and that's not just my view but others have commented too.  Even out of the peak travel times to and from work, there seems to be something of a solid line waiting at the lights and backed up beyond the Marker Place into King Street and Spa Road ... where a year or two ago the traffic would have been freeflowing at the same time of day.

Has it got busier?  Is there more traffic around?  Well, yes, this is a growing town but that doesn't account for the whole situation. 

It must be about a year ago now that the two car parks on the outskirts of town that offered free parking for up to an hour started to charge, and the town centre car park introduced a free hour to compensate.   And the result?  Vehicles that used to come into the outskirts, but not go through the centre, as people did their bank runs or other short errands ARE now coming into town ... spaces in the central car park that are occupied for 45 minutes at a time will account for some 20 vehicle movements a day each, but spaces that are occupied for 4 hours at a time will account for just 4 vehicle movements. (I'm comparing typical current use with typical past use).

And let's compound the problem by adding a no right turn into the Cul-de-Sac which serves the car park, shall we, so that all the vehicles from the North for the car park have to drive up to the Market Square, all the way around the roundabout, and then turn left into the Cul-de-Sac.

The amount of traffic going on to the car park is huge ... I was in town to do a bank run in the middle of the day .... used the car park myself and stood on the corner and counted for a few minutes.   Just four cycles of the lights ...

31 vehicle carried straight on from the Market Place past the entrance to the Cul-de-Sac to the car park, and no fewer that 27 vehicles turned in.   25 vehicles came out during that time of which 13 turned left.  Assuming that people go out of town the way they come it, that's 8 extra vehicles in 4 light cycles that wend up and down to the Market place - or 16 extra vehicles passing Miles Recruitement in - what - about five minutes.

Do we have a scheme that wasn't throught through properly here?