MUCH work has still be going during lockdown on the mission to create the Gravity clean growth enterprise park near Bridgwater.

This brownfield site located near Puriton just off Junction 23 of the M5 was once home to the Royal Ordnance Factory.

Plans are now well underway for the development of a 222-acre 'immersive innovation campus' focused on low carbon and energy generation.

Once operational, it is hoped Gravity will create in the region of 4,000 high value and skilled jobs.

In a newsletter distributed by This Is Gravity Ltd, chairman Martin Bellamy highlighted that it been a year since the ground breaking event held at the site, and said that the last two months has been some of the busiest.

Some of the most significant progress has been on the new link road, which will connect the site to the M5 at Junction 23 and should help to reduce congestion and will divert the traffic away from the villages of Puriton and Woolavington.

Mr Bellamy said: "A record-breaking spring has kept the team ahead of schedule on the landscape bund, so far 60,000 tonnes of recycled blast mound material has been transported from the site to the link road.

"When complete, the landscape bund will act as a noise and visual barrier between activity on the link road and the local community."

Mr Bellamy sad the next step would be to submit plans to Sedgemoor District Council for a Village Enhancement Scheme, to provide support links between Gravity and the neighbouring villages of Puriton and Woolavington.

The Gravity team has been working with the government department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy with the aim of making the South West the UK's 'hub for clean and inclusive growth'.

Mr Bellamy said: "We will look at all opportunities to enable this, from rail restoration through to improving digital connectivity, exploring free port zone, through to targeting sectors and occupiers that would be a perfect fit and create higher-value job opportunities into the future."

Elsewhere during the coronavirus pandemic, with support of The 37 Club, as well as Woolavington and Puriton Parish Councils and the wider community, Gravity established a food delivery service.

Since the service was set up, the team has served more than 7,000 meals in the two villages to people most in need during isolation.