The Vale Action Geographical Area

vale-actionThe LAG name comes from the Avon river vale which runs from Tetbury in Gloucestershire south through Malmesbury, Chippenham, Melksham, and Trowbridge before leaving Wiltshire at Bradford on Avon to flow onward to Bristol.

Covering an area of 942km2 VALAG area encompasses the majority of the north-west corner of Wiltshire with the A350 corridor being the recurring focus. The area is split between rolling countryside with livestock farming predominant in the eastern zone, as it has been for many hundreds of years, and on the western side a strong influence of sheep farming bordering onto the Cotswolds. The area is bordered by the Cotswold AONB to the west and the North Wessex Downs AONB to the east and the Cotswold Water Park to the north.

Vale Action Local Action Group is linked throughout by the A350/A429 corridor running north from Trowbridge up to the Cotswold Water Park. Upon leaving Trowbridge heading north it runs through Melksham, skirts the historic village of Lacock (Lacock Abbey being a tourism hub with National Trust presence and strong attractiveness to overseas visitors as a Harry Potter film location, as well as the former residence of Fox Talbot the Victorian photographer), around Chippenham, before meeting the M4 at Kington Langley. As the A429, it heads to Malmesbury before leaving Wiltshire and going into the Cotswold Water Park. The A350 is one of the main north/south arterial routes taking commercial traffic to and from south coast cities and the ferry port of Poole to the main communication routes of the M5 M6, M4 and M1.

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