A PUBLIC inquiry will be held into plans for a Blunsdon bypass.

Dozens of visitors attended a two-day exhibition of the Highways Agency's proposal for the A419 bypass.

Fourteen formal objections have now been lodged over the scheme which is enough to trigger an inquiry.

Yesterday was the final day for the first round of consultation on the plans.

But Chris Shiner, chairman of the Blunsdon Traffic Committee, which is made up of local residents and parish council members, said the majority of the village are behind the bypass.

He said: "We're absolutely for the bypass. This has been going on for so long now and it's going to make an enormous difference to people in Blunsdon.

"The village is cut in half at the moment by the traffic coming through it. That's going to be reduced unbelievably by a bypass.

"We have looked at some of the objections and frankly they don't have any substance.

"When you look at the grounds they are really anecdotal rather than based in facts."

At the two open days, held at Blunsdon Village Hall in March, residents could study maps and watch a specially-created computer simulation of how the road may look if completed.

The 3.3 km road, costing £65 million, will bypass Blunsdon village by routing through fields to the west, before rejoining the current route of the A419 at the bottom of Blunsdon Hill.

The aim of the road is to speed the flow of the 50,000 cars, which use the stretch each day through the bottleneck of traffic lights and the roundabout at Turnpike and improve safety.

Blunsdon residents have seen a variety of plans for a bypass over the years, including ones that passed to the east of the village. The project is one of two planned for the A419 near Swindon the other being a flyover at the Commonhead junction, which is designed to improve traffic flow and safety.

The concerns which have been registered include noise at St Andrew's Ridge, problems with turning right at Turnpike and extra traffic on the old Highworth Road and Lady Lane.

Local landowners have also expressed concern about access to their property. A date for the public inquiry has not yet been set but the Highways Agency say it is likely to be in the autumn.

Gareth Bethell