The Labour Group’s Lead Member for Transport, Councillor Julian Price, has urged Swindon Council’s Conservative administration to “rethink” their new plans to further change Swindon’s road network.
The Labour Group’s Lead Member for Transport, Councillor Julian Price, has urged Swindon Council’s Conservative administration to “rethink” their new plans to further change Swindon’s road network.
Following the changes to the Whalebridge junction in 2011, Swindon Council together with Forward Swindon and the MUSE developers, plan to make Fleming Way a Busses-only road and make part of Station Road two-way.
The Labour Group are concerned that these changes will lead to the town centre road network becoming more restrictive for motorists coming to the town centre and could deter people from making the journey to the centre of Swindon. The Labour Group is also concerned that while these plans are due for public consultation from Wednesday, the detailed plans have already been drawn up and the Council will only be paying lip service to the views of local residents.
The Labour Group’s Shadow Lead for Transport, Councillor Julian Price, said: “We are deeply concerned about new plans to effectively close off Fleming Ways for motorists, making it busses only. These plans have been advocated by the MUSE developers who think that cutting off motorists from Fleming Way will be good for their future development but we disagree that it will benefit the Town Centre. One only has to look at the changes to the Whalebridge junction and the frustration that has caused motorists wanting to come in and out of Town, to understand the effect these new changes will have.
We understand that there will be a public consultation launched on these plans, but we do question whether the Conservative administration will really listen to the views of residents when they have already worked up the detailed plans.
Also these plans follow the Conservative administration’s general approach to Town Centre development which has been to do whatever the developers asks for. But we think these plans could be counter-productive to the success of the Town Centre as it will drive motorists away from the centre of town entirely. That is why we are calling for an overall rethink in the approach that has been taken to the Town Centre Road Network and we think residents will be behind us on this.”