Public calls for Marlborough Road closure review with petition

The road is closed for three months from January 7, for twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

Joanne Vickers, a local resident,says “fair consideration” has not been given to the disruption that will be caused, “in particular to children who have to get the school bus”.

The bus passes via Marlborough Road to both Wroughton Infant and Junior School and Ridgeway School.

The works will comprise of highway improvements associated with the Bellway Homes development, and the installation of a joint service trench from the Wroughton Substation at Inverary Road to the Data Centre at Brimble Hill led by Scottish & Southern Electric (SSE) and Instalcom Ltd.

The petition says: “Whilst we accept that cable needs to be laid to the data centre and support jobs being created in the local economy, we do not believe that the street works department of Swindon Borough Council have given fair consideration to the disruption that will be caused to all local residents, in particular children who have to get the school bus.

“These children have already had a very serious impact on their education both from Covid 19 home-schooling and prior road closures.

“The pupils in year 11 and year 13 have mock exams in February and March.

“The diversion route will take more than 30 minutes and will cause pupils to potentially be late for these.”

It says that the council, who granted the permit, needed to take this into consideration and insist on “reasonable accommodation to manage inconvenience from the developers”.

It added: “Furthermore local businesses and residents of Alexandra Park, Thorney and Langton Park, Beranburh Field, Burderop and the surrounding areas will face significant disruption and financial impact.

“Many small local businesses are also just recovering from the pandemic and again mitigating factors to reduce inconvenience such as avoiding full road closures in rush hour should have been considered and required as a condition of the closure.”