FAMILIES living alongside the railway in Royal Wootton Bassett have called for answers after the full scale of the new temporary link road became clear.

After spotting a car believed to belong to an engineer on the new link road last week - which has been put in place to avoid a diversion of more than 30 miles while the bridges over the railway are closed next month - residents have now renamed the temporary road as The Flyover, after it was dubbed as 'Waste of £3.25 Billion Street' last month.

Residents have raised fears over the height of the new road, as well the lack of speed, weight and noise controls in place, as well as concerns that the temporary road may be here to stay.

On Sunday afternoon, Dunnington Road resident Caroline Redmond called a public meeting which was attended by more than 30 concerned residents when they posed questions to Wiltshire councillor for Royal Wootton Bassett South Chris Hurst.

Caroline said that the residents of Dunnington Road were very clear that the road was necessary as part of the electrification work of the railway, and was a “sound solution” for the community, but the lack of consideration for residents living alongside the road was concerning.

She said: “We are not a disruptive community in Dunnington Road, just very concerned.

“What we want is a written confirmation by February 16 that there will be speed and weight restrictions in place as well as noise and pollution control.

"It is going to be a 24-hour road, as opposed to the railway, which doesn’t run at night. There are also no details of any pedestrian crossings.

“This may all be done in the next three weeks, but we want written confirmation that it will.”

Residents also called for confirmation that the road would be torn up upon completion of the works, amid fears that it may signal the approach of an application for housing in the future.

Mr Hurst said everyone had been quite alarmed after seeing the height of the road from the residents’ back gardens, and agreed that more information was needed from county highways over how speed would be enforced on the temporary road.

He said: “Whilst the road is temporary, once the bridge work is finished the road becomes an illegal road. The land owner – Oxford University - can put in an application saying we want it to be a permanent road. I would hope that the council would reject that application.”

He further added that the council was in a good position to reject any future housing application as they had outlined where their housing supply would come from up until 2026 in the local plan.

Network Rail said it was aware of the residents’ concerns and were investigating the issues raised.

Work is due to begin on the Marlborough Road/Broad Town bridge on March 6. Over the weekend Network Rail engineers began installing a pedestrian footbridge alongside the roadbridge.

Many of the residents present were members of the Marlborough Road Bridge Facebook group.