ALL OF us can recall only too well the problems we have had as a result of the market place refurbishment but the good news is that it was temporary.

None of the problems we had with the refurbishment of the market place will match the scale of permanent disruption and harm that will be caused to this town, if the Bathurst ‘legacy’ site gets planning approval and goes ahead.

Bearing in mind that the strategic site is not one but three separate sites, vehicles will depart/arrive from both ends of the new ‘legacy’ development.

In the West they will join the A429 Tetbury Road, in the East they will join Spratsgate Lane.

North – Vehicles will travel around or through the town to get to the A417 or A435 to proceed to work which will lead to gridlock and rat runs, as they try to access the main routes out of town.

East – Vehicles will travel along the A429 (ring road) from Tetbury Road. At the Fire Station roundabout they will be joined by traffic from the East of the site towards the Kingsmeadow roundabout.

West – Alternatively exiting onto the A429 to go west for the train station at Kemble or head to the roundabout and go left to Stroud.

Traffic departing from the other end will have to travel long Chesterton Lane to gain access to the west. This will be on top of all the current traffic movements that leave Chesterton and join traffic to Deer Park School, the College and the RAU.

South – People exiting the legacy site to the West who want to go south towards Swindon, will have to join the north and east traffic along the A429 to join the A419. Traffic leaving the site to the East will either have to join the minor roads which are not suitable or travel through the busy industrial estate to join the main route.

Let’s not forget when the development of the market place was being presented at a public meeting, someone asked the developer: “What effect will the proposed Bathurst development have on the traffic flows that were being proposed?” reply: “It would blow it out of the water”.
What we have laid out above is not temporary, it will become the permanent way of life in the future for Cirencester, unless the Bathurst proposed legacy site is greatly reduced.

MARK PRATLEY
Chairman of Save Our Cirencester