Save the Melksham Train
Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
Further Chippenham-related Wiltshire Core Strategy Consultation - 8122/13164
Written by Lee on Tuesday, 20th April 2010

From Wiltshire Council:

[quote="Wiltshire Council"]Wiltshire Core Strategy consultation

Further public consultation as to how Chippenham should develop between now and 2026 is being proposed for later this year.

The council carried out three months of public consultation last autumn, an important step in the preparation of a Wiltshire-wide core strategy, the blueprint for future development which will lay down how the employment and housing needs of the county can be met over the next 16 years.

The consultation brought together the work undertaken by the former Wiltshire district councils and set out the council's understanding based on the evidence collected. The consultation provided the opportunity for local communities to consider whether that understanding was right and provide further evidence of the issues facing Wiltshire's communities.

Hundreds of people visited the exhibitions and workshops that were held between October and December and more than 800 people and organisations have sent in thousands of individual comments on the proposals.

It has become clear from both the responses to the consultation and the concerns of local residents, as shown by the petition presented to the council, that there is considerable opposition to the location and amount of new development being proposed in Chippenham. New evidence has been put forward that suggests the local preference is for the area to the south of the town to be developed rather than the north.

In order to identify the best options for strategic sites in and around Chippenham, it is proposed that a further consultation is undertaken within the Chippenham area. Cabinet will be asked to approve this as its meeting on April 23.

Other responses have highlighted opposition to the proposed developments to the west of Swindon. It is proposed that a joint working party is set up with Swindon Borough Council to consider the issues relating to the west of Swindon to give the council a sound understanding of the issues regarding the area and the "substantive opposition" to the development of 3,000 extra homes.[/quote]

 
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Save the Train was the campaign to bring an approriate train service back to and through Melksham.

Most big contributors are still around writing at the Coffee shop forum where new members are very welcome.

The train has been saved - sort of - we have stepped back up from an unusable service to a poorish one but it's doing very well. We did that through setting up the TransWilts Community Rail Partnership. That fulfilled its early objectives; it has been taken over by local and regional government types who are now doing medium and long term work. The team from this forun can also be found at the Melksham Rail User Group (which was the Melksham Rail Development Group at the time these articles were written and we had no users.

We mustn't loose sight, though, that the train service remains poor and needs our community support in marketing and campaigning to keep it going in a positive direction ... and all the more so when we're expecting to find a different normallity once we get out of the Coronavirus Pandemic and head for zero carbon via the climate crisis. Yes, it's saved ... it's now a key community facility ... the need for enhancement and the strong and near-universal local support remain, and the rail industry and goverment remain slow to move and provide the enhancements even to level us up with other towns. Please support the Melksham Rail User Group - now very much in partnership rather than protest with the rail industry and local government, including GWR, TransWilts and unitary and town councils. And please use the trains and buses, and cycle and walk when you can.

-- Graham Ellis, (webmaster), February 2021


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