Melksham Area Board / Hub - a station fit for the town

Melksham is a town with a population of over 25,000 - and there's 1,000 new homes with planning permission so in year or three, that number will be pushing on 30,000. The station, with its very limited train service prior to 2014 managed only to attract around 3,000 passenger journeys per annum, but with an improved (but still sparse) service that number has risen to 75,000. Estimates are that the number will rise five fold - that's to around 375,000 - in coming years, subject to the provision of enough capacity. That 375,000 equates to passenger numbers at Warminster - slightly smaller than Melksham, and otherwise broadly comparable (Readers may like to note that if we compared to any other Wiltshire town we would get even higher figures!).

The platform has just been extended to 3 carriage lengths rather than one, and the trains are up from one carriage too - the last single carriage service ran in June. The next sets of figures to be published will not show any rise, as they cover the period when the train was short and full, but it should start to rise again in the year to March 2019, and then soar in the year to March 2020, once the effect of engineering works ongoing at present has worked out of the system.

A longer platform - good. But just a gate into the back of the trading estate, with a walkway pointed on the road. No sign saying "here is your station". No toilets. No buses. Taxis only if you call ahead. No staff (or volunteer with information). No Cafe. No announcements. No public phone. No map to the town. No electric car charging point. No leaflets telling you what to do in Melksham, or the the times of the trains. Parking available, but already nearly full. Access only to the A365 - no access even on foot to Foundry Close or to Shurnhold.

The former builders yard, opposite the station, was bought by Wiltshire Council from the BRB^‡ Residuary body a few years back, and is currently between tenants. Plans are to turn the majority of this yard into additional car parking, with the remaining section providing bus and taxi accommodation, and with the former yard office being replaced by something more appropriate; we'll be showing the Area Board artist's impressions and building data, and talking about pre-application planning discussions that have been going on to get the public real and future rail use lined up. With CCIF^▸ and DCRDF grants possible, locally raised funding can be matched to provide a "Melksham Hub" which meets 9 of the 10 top aspirations gleaned from the passenger survey late last year. TransWilts and MRUG^» are confident in the plans, and relieved to note that the works for the hub are well away from the live railway with all the extra hurdles that would bring.

There will be a brief presentation at the Area Board in Melksham on 5th September (I have the slides on my laptop) and I'm happy to share thoughts and details after that evening. Melksham United Church, from 19:00 (just off the Market Place, next to the King's Arms).