A campaigner against plans for turning the A350 into a dual carriageway near Chippenham has said the scheme will cause congestion.

This comes after Wiltshire Council announced that a webinar for a public consultation on the final phases of the scheme will be happening on Wednesday (January 11).

The plans will see the remaining single carriageway sections of the A350 at Chippenham turned into dual carriageways between Chequers Roundabout (A4) and Lackham Roundabout then between Cepen Park South Roundabout and Bumpers Farm Roundabout (A420).

Dr Helen Stride, who previously led the campaign against the Future Chippenham development scheme, said this will cause congestion from Lackham Roundabout towards Melksham.

She said: “The dualling of the A350 is going to cause tremendous congestion beyond Lackham roundabout as the new four lanes of traffic will be funnelled into two lanes at this point.

“This is inevitable when we’re encouraging HGV lorries to come off the motorway down the A350 and then after Lackham roundabout there will only be single lanes.

“This is the current problem which I’ve raised with Chippenham MP Michelle Donelan because she’s in favour of this.

“I’ve said how can you possibly justify this, but she said it’s good for the town.

“It’s a major problem.”

In addition to the dualling there are other changes planned.

The Bumpers Farm roundabout junction is to be remodelled to deal with more traffic and there is to be more signalisation introduced.

Lackham roundabout is also to be altered to deal with the additional carriageway.

The council argue the dualling of the carriageways will reduce congestion along the roads and improve journey times.

The webinar is being held from 6pm-7pm on Wednesday, and people should sign up beforehand on the Wiltshire Council website.

Questions can be submitted in advance or on the day of the webinar.

Cabinet Member for Transport Dr Mark McClelland said: “This webinar engagement session will enable people to see the proposals, ask questions and find out more about the final phases of the Chippenham dualling project before they take the survey and share their views.

“All feedback we receive on the project will be fed into the full business case, which we’ll submit to the Department for Transport next year.

“These final two parts of the project will further increase capacity and improve journey times on this important route from the M4 through Wiltshire.”

To find out more, book on the webinar and take the survey, people can click here.