My family and the A303

Something needs to change

As a resident of Chitterne for over 10 years, I enjoy everything the village has to offer. It’s a special place with a friendly, passionate community, and I feel lucky to call it my home. Unfortunately, as time has gone on, our peaceful, countryside village has slowly been overwhelmed by dangerous rat running, tourist coaches and Heavy Good Vehicles (HGVs) – making us feel unsafe.

The narrow B390 is the main road through our village and unfortunately it has become the A303 Stonehenge bypass, being used by anyone trying to avoid the busy – more often than not stationary A303 – making it very difficult for anyone living on the main road here to get out and about.

Traffic fills the road, often travelling too fast for the 30 mph limit and is a constant threat to anyone using the road not in a car – as in places there is no pavement. My mother now refuses to walk down the road to access the bridleway after being forced into a hedge by a speeding car – she’s still badly shaken by the near miss.

It’s not just pedestrians who are affected, while horse riding and cycling with my daughter we’ve met angry drivers overtaking us on blind bends, double decker tourist coaches and large lorries racing through our small country village saving time on their journeys and risking our lives.

On one occasion a car drove into our wall, while another driver crashed into a house up the road – thankfully no one was injured. It’s a miracle there have not been more accidents and more of my neighbours hurt.

It has now become normal for me to check road traffic conditions before even thinking about going out.

I worry about my daughter using the road by herself, due to the disregard most, not all, vehicle drivers have for the village and its residents.

The stream of traffic impacts our lives every day, and we’re just one family.

We want to reclaim our village from the traffic and desperately need an improved A303, to keep the high volumes of traffic away from ours and neighbouring villages and to help my family, and community feel safe again.

words from a Chitterne resident