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| Calne's northern bypass nearing completion. |
Fast forward 17 years and we find the idea of a bypass, or relief road, appearing in the press. Wiltshire County Council had been exploring an extension to The Pippin, one of four options at the time, which would have created an internal relief road. In August 1987, an article appeared that reported that Gordon Mitchell, the director of the Calne Project was asking the County Council to withdraw support for that plan in favour of a northern relief road.
A protest meeting at John Bentley School in December 1988 was attended by 300 people. This made it clear that local people did not want to discuss the four inner relief road options, there had been too much demolition of historic buildings in Calne already. They put forward the idea of a Northern Distributor route. It was now clear that there was a total opposition for any internal relief road[1].
In 1989, a decision for the Calne relief road was made at County Hall in Trowbridge, with 70 campaigners present. All four inner relief road ideas were rejected. At that time, there was no official mention of an external relief road. All money allocated to the inner relief road scheme was diverted to other projects throughout the county. The County Council was reported as saying that they couldn't afford a new relief road anyway.
Previously, in 1987 a confidential meeting between Heron Homes and Jonathan Taylor of the Calne Project took place. Heron Homes wanted to build 96 homes near Chilvester Farm, which aligned well with the Northern Distributor route idea championed by The Calne Project. One letter from Heron Homes to The Calne Project closes by saying "As I see our respective projects going very much hand in hand."[2]. It seemed clear at that point that both groups had the same idea about this development initiating the start of the bypass route.
This development proceeded in the early 1990s, and created Greenacres Way, the beginning of the Northern Distributor route.
Yet more time passed and it wasn't until May 1999 that there were boots on the ground, or rather heavy machinery, scraping out the route of the relief road. By June 1999 there were aready areas tarmacked, but it wouldn't be until January 2000 that the job was complete.
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| (left to right are likely): Calne Mayor, Deborah Smith, Cllr Fleur de Rhe-Philips (Wiltshire County Council), and Mrs. L. M. Barber (Chair of the North Wiltshire District Council), and Duncan Davidson (Persimmon Homes chairman). |
North Wiltshire District Council loaned Persimmon Homes £3.5 million to build the relief road. To bring forward the building of the road Calne Town Council contributed £250,000, while Persimmon Homes and North Wiltshire District Council settled the remaining £950,000.
After 30 years, Calne finally had the external relief road suggested by Towning Hill and Partners.
However, that's not quite the end of this tale. The Calne Twinning Association were told that they could decide the name of the road, choosing Caln Pennsylvania Drive in celebration of our twin town Caln, Pennsylvania. However, after a 500-signature petition in favour of 'Beversbrook Road' was handed in to the Calne Area Committee, of the then North Wiltshire District Council, the name was changed[3]. At its northern end, Beversbrook Road runs alongside the medieval settlement of Beversbrook, which is a Scheduled Monument.
Since opening much housing has been developed by the Calne Consortium headed by Persimmon Homes, who also provided Fynamore Community Primary School. This development is called Lansdowne Park. It has also provided much traffic relief within Calne itself, however the fabled eastern bypass is becoming more pressing as time goes on., but is not part of the 2016-2026 Calne Community Neighbourhood Plan.
References:
[1] WSHC 3271/32
[2] WSHC 3271/27
[3] The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald. 2019. Rethink over bypass name | The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/7409300.rethink-over-bypass-name/. [Accessed 17 December 2019].
[1] WSHC 3271/32
[2] WSHC 3271/27
[3] The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald. 2019. Rethink over bypass name | The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/7409300.rethink-over-bypass-name/. [Accessed 17 December 2019].
