By Joanne Kelly

THE mayor of Melksham handed over two petitions this week on behalf of his residents.

Cllr Vic Oakman confronted Wiltshire County Council's environmental services committee on Wednesday with two petitions signed by the people of Melksham.

More than 150 people had signed a petition, organised by Bryan Sandford of Montague Place, objecting to the blocked drains, untidy streets and lack of street maintenance.

The second petition was signed by 650 people, who want to see measures to reduce the speed of traffic in the Forest Road area of Melksham, including sleeping policemen, double yellow lines and a crossing outside Forest newsagents.

Cllr Oakman said: "Forest Road is becoming dangerous and is always used as a short cut to Lacock whenever there are roadworks on the A350.

"There is a lot which needs doing."

Kevin Wren, chairman of the environmental services sub-committee, said there was no doubt that every member of the committee sympathised with the people most affected by the traffic.

He said: "The request for a crossing will be considered for inclusion in the 2001 annual pedestrian safety review in the new year."

Some draft traffic calming proposals on the estate are contained in the Western Wiltshire Sustainable Transport Strategy.

Cllr Oakman was particularly angry when he handed over the petition complaining about a lack of street maintenance. "There is no maintenance at all in the town and there is sewage being washed from the blocked drains into residential gardens," he said.

Although the petition was raised by people living in the north of the town, a group of residents in Church Walk are equally concerned. Ginny Anderson said: "This is a conservation area, but we have to put up with pot holes in the road, temporary repairs, flooding, unblocked drains and gutters."

The committee has vowed to take all the comments on board but said Melksham was treated identically to every other town in the county on the road maintenance rota.

A spokesman for Wiltshire County Council said it was hoped there would be money in the local transport plan settlement which could be set aside for highways maintenance. The amount of cash will be confirmed on December 14.