FARESAVER has threatened to pull bus routes from Chippenham due to the impact of the controversial Station Hill traffic lights.

The Chippenham-based company said that something must be done about the Station Hill lights as “a matter of urgency”, adding that if the situation does not improve it will have to evaluate buses to the train station.

This comes as Faresaver said the lights have caused up to 15 minute delays at times where traffic should not be a problem – impacting on services across the county.

On Facebook the company wrote; “This not only impacts road users but passengers who rely on our services, whether they live in Chippenham, Corsham, Melksham, Trowbridge, Devizes - any service which operates to/from Chippenham has experienced delays.

It also impacts on local residents and people who work in the area given that queuing traffic will inevitably increase pollution levels.

Something must be changed as a matter of urgency and we have advised Wiltshire Council that if these problems persist we will have to evaluate the viability of services which operate to Chippenham Railway Station. Routing services away from the Railway Station is one option but this will obviously inconvenience our passengers wishing to connect to train services or who travel to college.”

Faresaver also apologised for the troubles caused by the traffic lights, which have left vehicles idling and causing issues for nearby businesses and residents.

Wiltshire Council said that since these issues were brought to light on June 22 it went out to “attempt to improve the situation”.

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Cabinet member for transport, Mark McClelland said he would be discussing the continued problems with his team to get traffic running smoothly again.

“We have received feedback expressing concerns regarding the recent introduction of Traffic Signals at the junction of Station Hill and New Road and I apologise for the inconvenience and delays that motorists and bus services have experienced,” he added.

The Gazette has contacted Faresaver to understand if these fixes were enough to give the company reassurance.

A spokesman for the bus company said it was keeping an eye on journey times and hopes the changes improve on delays.

“It is unfortunate that we are now coming to a time of the year when traffic is quieter in this area,” they continued.

“This is largely due to the fact that the college is due to close next week. Combine this with the fact that far fewer people are travelling by train at the moment and so traffic will not return to pre-covid levels to normal levels until September at the earliest.

“Until that time we will not fully understand the impact these traffic signals will have on our services.

“We still have ongoing concerns that additional traffic signals, both on New Road and Park Lane cause unnecessary delays to our services and will increase pollution levels due to idling vehicles where before traffic was able to move freely.”