THE closure of the main road through Winchcombe at the end of this month will bring complete chaos to the town and achieve practically nothing to improve the traffic problem.

The proposed expensive 'improvements’ are in the main cosmetic and do nothing to improve the traffic flow through the town.

The only useful outcome that I can see will be that everyone will see the advantage of a bypass to the town.

Every day there is a traffic jam and the cry goes up that the main street is not big enough for modern traffic and we need a bypass, but it is not even on the agenda of the town council and the recent Neighbourhood Plan seemed to think that if it was ignored it would go away.

I had hoped that Rupert Chislett and the reformed Friends of Winchcombe would have considered this far more important than bickering with the council about the Neighbourhood Plan, and hope that as they now have two representatives on the council they will demand that the traffic problems and infrastructure be given top priority.

Many years ago, having missed the opportunity to have a bypass to the north of the town, a south bypass was seriously considered by the council and in fact some land was bought on the Broadway side of the town, but this has since been sold.

The downgrading of the main road from A to B class has made councillors think that problems with funding make a bypass impossible. It isn’t and it becomes more necessary every day, with more housing in the town generating even more cars.

Martin Podd

Winchcombe