THIS Saturday morning I left my home in Old Sarum to visit my friend Cllr Ian West at his home in Winterbourne Stoke. The journey by car took me just over an hour.

Ordinarily, it ought to have taken me fifteen to twenty minutes.

By taking the A303, my journey took three to four times longer. It is high time our representatives take strong action and see to dual that road now.

For a local economy hugely reliant on tourism it is an appalling presentation of south West Wiltshire. The longer international visitors and day trippers are sitting in traffic, the less time they are spending in our shops. My own experience this Bank Holiday encourages me to rat run onto village streets despite knowing that our villages aren’t designed to take increased traffic.

We see it already with the actions of Shrewton’s ‘kitchen cupboard, speedcam man’.

We want to see purposeful action. Our MP should be lobbying the transport secretary to ensure the Chancellor’s autumn statement includes heavy financing for a practical solution to help our blighted communities and local trade.

I don’t care to be restricted to visiting my friend only in the winter months.

Reeten Banerji

Prospective Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Salisbury