Bypass call Councillor says new road would ease future gridlock

HERE are renewed calls for a Forest of Dean Gateway road to bypass Chepstow and ease congestion on the A48 amid fears hundreds of new homes will make people’s lives a misery. Campaigners for a Chepstow bypass say the revision of the blueprint for development in the Forest of Dean is an ideal chance to ensure the adequate transport infrastructure is included to avoid problems in the future.

- Carmelo GARCIA Local Democracy Reporter

Conservative councillor Nick Evans, who represents the Tidenham ward at the Forest of Dean District Council, is calling on civic chiefs to listen to the “overwhelming” response of residents in his area to a housing plan consultation, and back his campaign for a new bypass.

Cllr Evans, who has been beating the drum for a new Chepstow bypass since 2018, said that the message from residents in Sedbury, Tutshill and Beachley about the Local Plan was clear, and that as the plan needed re-writing following changes brought in by the Labour Government, this was an ideal chance to update the plan so it doesn’t “store up problems for the future”.

Fifty-nine objections and a further fifty-one observations to development in the most Southern ward of the District were raised by residents, with a great deal of these comments focusing on traffic congestion and the lack of services in the area.