Issue 504 – CLOSED! Residents’ misery ends as lorry park closes

It was 20 months ago that complaints were originally made by Melksham residents whose lives were blighted by the neighbouring King Street lorry park, but it was finally closed by Wiltshire Council on Monday.

Since complaints were initially made to Melksham’s Town Council, meetings have been held and Wiltshire Council even commissioned an £18,000 feasibility study to decide where the lorries would park if the facility was closed. Despite this, just weeks after the money was spent, the search has been abandoned.
Local councillor Jon Hubbard, who has been campaigning on behalf of the residents to see the lorry park close explained, “The decision was taken at the Area Board meeting on June 15th to close the lorry park and not to look for an alternative site.
“The commercial facilities at Warminster and Chippenham are currently under-utilised and a significant proportion of the lorries using the King Street facilities were local companies who shouldn’t really have been there anyway.”
Residents who described the experience of living next to the lorry park as “torture”, can rest easy after the park closed on Monday. In March this year, and again at the special Area Board meeting held last month, the decision was taken to recommend to a cabinet member at Wiltshire Council that the lorry park should close.
Melksham town councillor Jon Hubbard has been campaigning on behalf of the residents from the beginning. He said, “An order by West Wilts District Council, dated 2008, allows for temporary closure of the car park. The legal advice is that the order can be used to apply an immediate ban whilst the order for a permanent ban is advertised and put in place.
“Therefore, the signage to ban HGVs has been ordered and these were scheduled for delivery on 5th July and fencing may be put around the lorry parking bays to help enforcement.”
Wiltshire Council is now in the process of obtaining an order for a permanent ban on HGVs using the lorry park. Bus companies are being made aware of the ban and any suggestions for alternative locations in Melksham for bus drivers to have their break are being welcomed by Wiltshire Council.
Wiltshire Council is also contacting local operators to encourage their drivers to park at their depots. The signage will be in English and Polish. Text in other languages may need to be added later.
Councillor Hubbard added, “I am delighted that finally this issue has been actioned by the council. Local residents have had to endure a living hell for the past few years and should never have had been put in this position. I am so pleased that at last, common sense has prevailed and we will no longer have a lorry park immediately adjacent to residental housing.”

Local drivers

A high proportion of lorries regularly using this overnight stop have been established as being local companies.
A letter to Melksham Chamber of Commerce from Chris Major, parking services manager from Wiltshire Council says, “It is expected that the drivers of these lorries live locally within Melksham and are using the parking facility as a more convenient place to park and start their working day, rather than returning to their local depot.
“This of course contravenes the agreements placed by VOSA (Vehicle and Operator Services Agency) on the use of the companies’ registered 'depot' and further aggravates the local residents.
“It was felt that because a large percentage of lorries were found to be local, the impact on the closure of this park would not be as great had the local lorries not had legitimate depots to return to.”