Seend Hosts Melksham Area Board Meeting on Public Transport

There was lots of discussion on Wednesday night October 26 at a special public-transport-themed meeting of Melksham Area Board at Seend.

The focus was on the possible improvement in the Melksham rail service for commuters, businesses and leisure travellers.

Graham Ellis, Chairman of Melksham Chamber of Commerce and a representative from the Trans Wilts Community Rail Partnership, spoke of the importance of an improved railway service for the local economy connecting Salisbury and Swindon via Trowbridge, Melksham and Chippenham on the TransWilts Railway Line.

The partnership has been putting together business and operational cases for the Department of Transport with the help of reps from First Great Western and hopes to increase trains through Melksham from two per day to an hourly service. Graham pointed out that the   Sunday summer train services to Weymouth in July and August this year were highly successful, which shows that there is a lot of support around Melksham for an improved rail service.

Melksham area board chair Jonathon Seed said: "The lack of a regular rail service through Melksham is a hot topic amongst local people and it was encouraging to hear that great efforts are being made to improve this."

Melksham Area Board hosted a workshop to hear the opinions of locals on the future use of council-owned land near Melksham station. Ideas included more car parking, a transport hub with bus stops, taxi rank and cycle hire, a community café/information point, and maybe even a regular car boot sale or market.

The area board also heard about the Seend Shuttle, a local community bus that has provided transport for locals for over 20 years. Terry Sleightholme explained how the community bus operates and benefits Seend.  

Wiltshire Council member for public transport, Richard Gamble, was also at the meeting and explained about the council's plans for supporting local community rail and bus services.

The area board also approved £569.90 to repaint the antique gas street lamps in Church St, Church Walk and Canon Square in Melksham.