Ernie Clark. Hilperton Division, Wiltshire Council.

Wiltshire Council news from Ernie Clark.

Your Independent councillor for Hilperton.

With Persimmon now building their houses on the ‘East of Trowbridge’ development, I have received several requests asking 'When will the Hilperton Relief Road be built?'

There is no 'actual' date set down anywhere but the construction of the road is tied to other Persimmon developments in the area. The best guidance I can give is to say that Persimmon is legally tied to provide the road to serve both the approved residential development (reference 04/02105/OUTES - which was finally granted permission in October 2011) and its employment site off West Ashton Road.

The legal agreement stipulates that public access to the completed Hilperton Relief Road must be provided prior to the occupation of more than 225 of the 650 permitted dwellings and 50% of the gross floor area of any buildings permitted at the employment site. If no development commences on the employment site, the trigger is 450 dwellings. As a 'backstop', the agreement provides that the road will, in any case, be completed and open for use by the public before the fourth anniversary of the residential occupation of the first dwelling. The agreement has the same clauses for the East Trowbridge Distributor Road (the extension to Leapgate).

The Whaddon Lane canal bridge has been on the Wiltshire Council 'work required' list for more years than I care to remember. However, it would seem that it has now worked its way towards the top of the list. It is still early days regarding exactly how the bridge will be strengthened, or the timescale. An alternative thought is that the whole bridge will be replaced, but this would require the closure of both the canal and Whaddon Lane for a day or so.

Morrisons and Prorsus have announced their new intentions for Innox Riverside. The main changes are that the cinema has been removed but the petrol filling station is reinstated.

All the listed buildings will remain and will be renovated. The outline details are for a Morrisons food store with around 510 parking spaces, two large format retail units (total 36,000 sq ft), a 20,000 sq ft dry leisure building, the petrol filling station, a family orientated pub, two restaurants and two cafes. It is anticipated that 350 jobs will be created and £40 million invested in the town. A decision early in the new year is hoped for but, as I write this, the formal planning application has not been submitted.