Here are some comments on Wiltshire Council's
incredible business case.
Observations are as detailed. One comical claim by Wiltshire Council is that 'the Westbury Eastern Bypass
Scheme has received endorsement and support from regional bodies such as the South West Regional Assembly, as included in
Appendix C.' But when we look inside this Appendix C, there is only one letter, from an officer at the SWRA,
which does not contain 'endorsement and support' for the Westbury Eastern Bypass scheme. Wiltshire
Council was presumably assuming or hoping that nobody would actually read what was in the appendix.
There was no valid justification for the scheme. For a high cost, it would have been a bypass of one town which
would have worsened congestion elsewhere.
Wiltshire Council’s failed Eastern Bypass project was also counter-productive, because, despite Westbury being a major
railway hub, WC’s highway scheme had no public transport interface and would have increased carbon emissions.
There were in fact lots of issues with the case for an eastern Westbury bypass, where it did not actually work or where
misleading information was presented.
Note the barely-acknowledged gross construction cost of £38M, which is more than what Wiltshire Council usually told us.
So at least £38M has been saved.
With planning permission refused, the business case for the bypass is history.
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