Chris Caswill

The Chippenham Area Board meeting on Monday 25th backed a call from Cllr Chris Caswill for more action to reduce late night noise and anti social behaviour in Bath Road car park.  They rejected a recommendation from Council officers that a temporary installation of a CCTV camera would be enough.  Council officers have been asked to look again at the possibilities of installing a barrier and taking down the old market canopy.  And the working group set up to oversee these next steps will include representatives of local residents.  

This followed a packed meeting in the Monkton Park offices the week before, when around 30 residents expressed their anger that nothing had been done to deal with these problems over the last four years.  The residents unanimously agreed to call for more action, and for the Area Board to decide on long term solutions at its May 10 meeting. 

After the meeting,  Chris said :”Local residents have made their views known, and turned up in large numbers to do so.  This hopefully puts an end to the suggestion that this is only an issue for one or two troublesome people.  It certainly means that the so-called ‘engineering’ options’ must now get proper attention.  I personally still believe the only way to reduce late night noise is to lock the car park at night.  And the Council, as car park owners, have a duty of care to do this.  In any event, more needs to be done, and it is good that the Board have given their support.”  

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There is a stretch of Station Hill between the top of Monkton Hill and the Sadlers Mead turning which is the only access to Monkton Park.  There are no alternative routes for this part of the road. Residents have for some time been expressing concern about emergency access in the event that the section being blocked by an accident of some kind.  Cllr Chris Caswill convened a meeting last week to discuss the issue, which was attended by the police and fire services, the Council and First Great Western.  The ambulance service were not able to come on this date, and were no doubt fully busy dealing with weather related incidents.  “We had a very useful discussion about the level of risk, and about alternative emergency routes,” says Chris.  “The emergency services are now being asked to review their assessments of the risks in the light of the changes that have taken place in Monkton Park in recent years.  We also want to open discussions with Network Rail about a possible route across the station forecourt, which seems to be one of the best engineering options, and will be asking them for a meeting” 

More on this as discussions continue.