MANY residents of 47 Bristol Street in Malmesbury are outraged by the intention to place traffic lights on Bristol Street, a residential road that leads out of Malmesbury towards Sherston.
Undoubtedly, the building of the new secondary school has made it even more urgent to improve pedestrian access but again this seems to be a victory for traffic planners over conservationists and residents.
As with other access routes to Malmesbury, the issue is the speed of traffic, not the volume.
Therefore, traffic calming by the installation of road bumps and or chicanes is fully appropriate and overdue.
However the installation of traffic lights on a three way basis around the junction of Bristol Street and Foxley Road would be completely inappropriate for the following reasons:
The problem is speed of traffic not access problems or the volume of traffic.
The installation of traffic lights would be to "urbanise" this particular part of Malmesbury in a totally unsympathetic and unacceptable way.
Traffic lights would cause more delays, more exhaust pollution and more noise pollution for the residents and pedestrians.
The effect would be to speed up traffic as the lights allow vehicles to pass since they would then be travelling "one-way."
Bristol Street has improved greatly over recent years in terms of the restoration of buildings.
Improvements to road use habits can be made but not through the use of traffic lights.
CLIVE BAKER
Bristol Street
Malmesbury
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