Wiltshire Council had chosen a route through the finest local landscape.
It would have surely known that it would encounter widespread opposition.

An eastern bypass above all else was a political objective of Wiltshire Council.

The longest local tail-backs on the A350, which, contrary to the spin, are actually at the A350 villages of Yarnbrook and West Ashton, would have become longer...

There are more homes adjacent to the more intensive A350 traffic via Melksham than Westbury.  An eastern Westbury bypass meant more traffic for Melksham.

Road hold-ups in Devizes are worse than in Westbury, but also off WC's focus.

WC's eastern Westbury bypass would have urbanised the best countryside.

Yet it could not provide efficient transport links for the employment areas.

Because the eastern bypass route was on the wrong side of the town...

 The Council had previously been obliged to acknowledge that the decision for the eastern route is not in accordance with the development plan for the area.

By wanting to build a main road though a designated Special Landscape Area, WCC was ready to spend our money on counter-productive artificial mitigation.

Another of many difficulties is that Wiltshire (County) Council's eastern bypass was paradoxically planned to be built through the Westbury water supply zone.   W(C)C's defective scheme was a water shortage hazard for all of us in the area. Our water supply is interlinked.   Already high projected costs were set to soar.

Read the following page about huge increases in the expense of the eastern bypass scheme.