At a recent Chippenham Town Council planning meeting, members were given a presentation about the latest proposals for Emery Gate Shopping Centre, by Acorn Property Group.
This comes as the latest designs for the partial redevelopment of the centre were revealed during a public consultation, ahead of a planning application being submitted.
To tackle falling footfall, Acorn is proposing a revamp of the retail offering and the creation of around 225 homes in what is described as the biggest investment in the town for years.
But town councillors fear this will worsen traffic congestion issues in the area and raised concerns with the developers at the meeting.
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“The number of residential units will create problems with parking and increased traffic in the centre of Chippenham.
“If you’re going to put another 225 residential units in the town that’s going to create its own problems with car parking in the evening and the day.”
Cllr Nick Murry added: “I’m really worried about traffic because New Road and the Bridge Centre are already majorly congested.
“If we’re encouraging more vehicles down there it’s not helpful and we’re trying to quieten the traffic at the top end of town, not encourage more.”
Lambert Smith Hampton, which is acting as a planning consultant on the development, says a “vast team” of technical consultants have been running modelling to inform the proposals over the last year and that increased congestion is not a concern.
“There is a shocking underutilisation of existing car parks… there is capacity for car parking in Chippenham that isn’t currently being used.
“We’ve run some preliminary modelling, and the development isn’t expected to generate any more traffic than it currently does.”
Town councillors were keen to emphasise that they were not against the regeneration of the shopping centre in principle, despite their concerns over the current designs.
Cllr Nic Puntis said: “Most of the people in Chippenham want to be excited by this development.
“It will coincidently work together with the river plan and is a golden opportunity to make sure we integrate the High Street, the retail offering, and the hospitality area.
“The things we’re raising are important to residents of Chippenham but that doesn’t mean to say we aren’t excited by it.”
