DEVIZES could be gridlocked with traffic within the next few years despite efforts of local authorities to discourage car use, says Jeff Ody, the new chairman of the Trust for Devizes.

Mr Ody, who was voted into office at the trust's annual meeting last week, was, until he retired last year, an independent consultant on motoring and traffic matters.

He told the Gazette that, because the town has no relief road, it presents a classic 'crossroads' situation.

He said: "There is a disproportionate increase in housing around the town with a concomitant increase in the number of cars in the area. As New Park Street gets more and more clogged, some of the traffic will try and escape into the Market Place and the whole thing is in danger of clogging up completely."

Mr Ody quoted recent articles from the national press which indicate that only swingeing levels of road tolls would have any effect on the number of private cars on the road, and no Government would risk the unpopularity of bringing in such measures.

He said: "Roughly three quarters of local authority funding comes from Whitehall and that is heavily bound up with conditions. We only have bike lanes in London Road because Wiltshire County Council wouldn't get funding for road improvements otherwise."

Mr Ody, who moved to Devizes last year with his wife Jill, sees a lot of challenges ahead, not least the traffic problems, but is convinced the future looks better for Devizes than for most other towns in the area.

He said: "It has escaped the attentions of the planners until fairly recently but we are now in a position that we have the ammunition to prevent their worst attentions."

The Market Place remains a cause for concern although he is prepared to give credit where it's due.

He said: "The district council has done a reasonable job in difficult circumstances which have to a large extent been forced upon them, especially by central government.

"That being said, I regret the excessive use of new paving. I know it will wear down in time but they have spent a lot of money on material that looks like concrete."

He is particularly sorry about the loss of the pollarded plane trees, which he thought were distinctive and so closely associated with a traditional market place.