Future of Transport - Bradford on Avon Town Council

Traffic modelling report & executive summary

This report, by traffic consultants Atkins, explains the anticipated impact of new traffic management models for Bradford on Avon.

Please note that the town council has not yet had an opportunity to discuss the report and consider its own response.

Bradford on Avon Traffic Study – executive summary report (pdf)

Bradford on Avon Traffic Study Report (pdf)

The town council organised 2 public engagement events with experts from Atkins.

If you could not attend the engagement sessions, you can still read all of the information, as well as complete the feedback form on our Traffic Modelling Engagement webpage.

Background

What was the Future of Transport consultation?

The Future of Transport consultation launched in late 2021 as an exercise in collecting data and comments on traffic in Bradford on Avon.

The results of the Future of Transport consultation have been compiled by Bristol based company, Copper Consultancy.

We have release the raw data (with all personal information removed). When analysing this data please take extreme caution.

What were the results of the consultation?

Over 2,700 people responded to the consultation and identified three key priorities; pedestrian and cyclist safety, air quality and traffic volume.

On Tuesday, 29 March the Sustainable Transport Committee met to discuss the results of the Future of Transport consultation and agreed to send the Copper Consultancy report to the highways department at Wiltshire Council.

Since the consultation

The report was sent to Wiltshire Council, alongside a covering letter, asking Wiltshire Council to use the data to inform any future traffic scheme.

On Thursday, 28 April, Bradford on Avon Town Council received a letter from Wiltshire Council saying the town council’s priorities had been considered and asking for clarification of the type of scheme the town council would support.

At the annual town council meeting on Tuesday 3 May, councillors unanimously agreed that the approach outlined did reflect the town council’s wishes as an appropriate response to views of residents expressed in the survey.

Councillors added that they were keen to see mitigations in those areas likely to see an increased volume of traffic from a scheme involving one-way traffic embedded in any scheme from the beginning.

We organised a meeting with Michelle Donelan MP and the then Wiltshire Council cabinet member for highways, Cllr Dr Mark McClelland, to discuss the progress on developing a new traffic solution for Bradford on Avon.

There it was stated that the town council should pay for 66% of the cost for a traffic modelling exercise.

The meeting was held on Friday 25 November at the town council office.

In March 2023, Councillors agreed to contribute the funding with the aim that our three priorities are central to any traffic solution.

Councillor Tim Trimble wrote to Councillor Caroline Thomas, Wiltshire Council’s cabinet member for highways, to confirm our decision.

Traffic modelling objectives

The town council was fully involved in setting the specification for the modelling and at the time of writing has recently held an initial scoping meeting with the company doing the work on behalf of Wiltshire Council.

Bradford on Avon Traffic Study Modelling (pdf)

The modelling exercise follows the Future of Transport consultation held in late 2021/early 2022 and is looking for ways to address the key priorities that emerged from that report: traffic volume, pedestrian and cyclist safety and air quality.