ROAD campaigner Michael Maxwell is furious that he was was asked to leave a Wiltshire Council transport meeting that was discussing the notorious Black Dog crossroads near Devizes.

Mr Maxwell, who has been campaigning for changes to the layout of the road on the outskirts of West Lavington, has accused the authority of not being transparent and is in breach of area board rules.

He said: “I thought the council had a policy of transparent decision making and this suggests that my demands for information from cabinet member Cllr Wayman have ruffled feathers in Highways HQ.

“They sadly think that by removing me from Community Area Transport Group meetings the matter will be buried.”

Mr Maxwell says he was told by Richard Gamble, who chaired the meeting at Devizes Library, that officers had said he was not allowed to attend as he was not a parish councillor.

He said: This disregards the fact that I represent a community grouping, one of the area board’s approved group of attendees.

“However, as I was there Cllr Gamble invited me to make any comments on the Black Dog issue and then to leave.”

In the past, the council has claimed there have not been enough injury accidents at the crossroads to move it on to an urgent list.

But Mr Maxwell told the meeting that he had discovered thanks to a Freedom Of Information application to Wiltshire Police there had been a serious accident there on October 15 involving a school bus and a truck.

On January 15 the road was closed for two hours after two vehicles collided at the staggered junction.

Cllr Gamble said he was looking into the attendance rules but he accepted there were problems at the crossroads and had recently been involved in a near-miss accident himself. He asked for anyone with dash cam footage of accidents to get in touch.