PLANS for a Salisbury bypass could be back on the table, after work from the Salisbury Chamber, as well as support from its partners Salisbury BID, Wiltshire Council and Salisbury City Council.

In a recent meeting in Salisbury, president of the chamber Andy Rhind-Tutt presented Highways England and the Department for Transport (DfT) with the impact the road infrastructure has on local businesses and potential visitors, pointing out that "Salisbury is the only city in the country that has a major trunk road passing through it."

As a result of this meeting, a new survey has been launched for business owners in Salisbury to complete, which will serve as the evidence needed by the DfT for the plans to be included in the next rounds of roads infrastructure (RIS Futures).

In his presentation, Andy said he explained that a large percentage of the heavy freight traffic heading to the West Country comes from Southampton docks and can only go one of three ways, the A34 via Stonehenge, the A35 via the South Coast or the A36 via Salisbury, "all three creating their own problems in terms of long delays."

He claims that investing in improvements in existing roads, and building a part orbital bypass for Salisbury, connecting all trunk roads and following some of the same route approved in 1994, would remove all traffic congestion in Salisbury.

He said: "This would create a much greener city and crucially trigger investment.

"Most importantly it would provide a solution to the A36 South/North route and provide a trunk route to the West Country from the docks without passing Stonehenge, reducing fuel bills and travel times considerably."

Andy says the DfT representative was encouraged by the presentation, and explained that for this to be included in the next rounds of roads infrastructure (RIS Futures) it would be helpful to have a survey undertaken that informs how significant the impact of traffic is on businesses and visitors.

With this in mind the Chamber have put together a survey, which will provide the evidence needed and request that every business possible complete one.

At a recent Chamber event Andy Rhind-Tutt said: “This latest meeting has been the most positive and constructive discussion I have attended in many years and with the support of our business community completing the simple survey we have put together, there is a real opportunity now to kick the ball out of the long grass and see Salisbury in the pipeline for a much needed bypass and wider road improvements.

"Please can I urge everyone to share this survey widely as this is an opportunity we may not get again for a long time”.

The survey can be found here.