A SWINDON Borough councillor has heavily criticised the upcoming closure of a road through Wroughton, saying the process has been "completely unacceptable". 

In a lengthy post on Facebook, councillor Cathy Martyn said that the authority - along with Sir Robert Buckland MP - tried to get the closure of Marlborough Road stopped, but their alternative suggestions were dismissed. 

As from Monday, January 10, the road will be closed for three months, 24/7. 

Coun Martyn added that council representatives "should have been consulted much earlier", and that "no-one should be put in this position again". 

Once they were made aware of the three-month closure, Coun Martyn and couns Brian Ford, David Martyn, and Jenny Jefferies, along with Robert Buckland MP, had several meetings over the Christmas period. 

One meeting was with groundworks contractors Conlon, untility contractors Instalcom, and Bellway Homes, and two were with the Leader of Swindon Council coun David Renard and Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Strategic Infrastructure, Transport & Planning coun Gary Sumner. 

The second meeting also included a senior highways officer. 

Coun Martyn said: "We have tried to stop this [road closure] by suggesting alternative routes, but these were refused. The Data Centre has a legal right to lay the data cables in the road and to do it in the way in which it’s being done.

"As your Borough Council representatives, we believe we should have been consulted and brought into the discussions with the developers and contractors at a much earlier stage and we expect to be given details of the lessons learned to ensure that no-one is put into this position again."

'Extremely angry'

In another social media post, coun Martyn said the group were "all extremely angry" at the way in which the closure was arranged "without any consultation".

She added: "As your Borough Councillors and Robert as your MP, we think this is all completely unacceptable. We were not given the opportunity to feed into the process before being told what had been agreed.

"We do not believe that the impact on residents has been fully understood or adequately considered."

 

MP for South Swindon, Sir Robert Buckland, said: "I have been involved in meetings over the Christmas period to reflect the very strong concerns of residents as to the timing of this closure and the lack of consultation.  

"While I appreciate the fact that there will be some unavoidable disruption for fellow residents, I urge the Council to allow more time for fuller consultation to limit the impact of this closure"