The re-development of the Bridge Garage was given a hearty welcome by the Town Council, but one of its consequences caused some anger at their planning committee meeting (August 18) when councillors had to rubber stamp Wiltshire Council’s ‘stopping up order’ on a length of footpath.
The footpath runs from the A4, across the garage forecourt to the River Kennet. There is no bridge to take someone using the footpath across the river and onwards towards George Lane.
The footpath could be seen as a short-cut from the A4 to George Lane and people who do not wish to wade through the Kennet will now have to walk along the pavement beside the road.
Councillors had told the developers, Deans Limited, about the footpath when they inspected and approved the plans – and some expected it to be preserved. One councillor saw this as the thin end of the wedge: “I object most strongly – soon we’ll have nothing left. It simply can’t be right.”
Wiltshire Council had to undertake a complicated process and consultation before they could make the ‘stopping up order’.
Perhaps the best summary of the matter is in Wiltshire Council’s risk assessment of the ‘stopping up’ or ‘extinguishment’ of the footpath: “There are no risks to users of the path associated with the extinguishment as the risk of crossing a garage forecourt and a river is considered to outweigh that of walking along a roadside footway.”