Bridgwater housing developments could cause more congestion in town

Three major developments are at various stages of planning and construction in east Bridgwater, on land between the existing residential streets and the M5 motorway.

The two northern sites – including the Strawberry Grange development currently being built – will be joined by a new spine road, allowing them to access both the A39 Bath Road and the A372 Westonzoyland Road.

But the southern site, accessed off Dunwear Lane, will only be able to use the A372 – with no relief road being planned to link the new homes to Squibbers Way and the A38 Taunton Road.

Here’s everything you need to know:

How many homes are planned in East Bridgwater?

The East Bridgwater allocation comprises the land south of the A39 and the bottom of Dunwear Lane, including the parcels either side of the A372.

The land – some of which is currently owned by Somerset Council – was allocated within the Sedgemoor Local Plan to deliver around 1,200 homes by 2032.

However, the three major developments planned for the site will instead deliver a combined total of 1,540 homes – more than 28 per cent higher than was anticipated.

Planned site of 530 homes at Folletts Farm on Dunwear Lane (Image: Daniel Mumby)

Up to 750 new homes and a primary school are planned for the northernmost site, near the town’s community hospital and the Polden Bower special school – with a decision on these plans expected in the coming months.

Countryside Partnerships is currently constructing 260 homes on the Strawberry Grange site, which lies off Bower Lane to the north of the A372.

As part of this development, a new roundabout will be delivered to replace the existing crossroads of the A372, Bower Lane and Dunwear Lane, and link up with the first section of the new spine road.

The final site, to the south of the A372 (known as Folletts Farm), will see 530 homes delivered by Lance Alec Rainey House and Hannick Homes Developments Ltd.

While planning permission was granted by Sedgemoor District Council in February, no start date for the construction of the new homes has been published.

How can you get to the town centre from Dunwear Lane?

If you were to buy one of the new properties on Dunwear Lane, you currently have to use the A372 to reach the town centre by car.

This road currently serves a large number of residential street east of the railway line, with a 20mph speed limit being in place along much of its length.

The road is regularly congested, especially near Bridgwater railway station at the start of the ‘Celebration Mile’, where the traffic queues back from the junction with the A38 Broadway.

While it is possible to turn onto Parkway and head north at busy times, this adds considerable time to your journey, especially at peak times.

Walking into the town centre from the new homes is possible, with pavements all along the route. However, cycle lanes are minimal and narrow, and bus services are few and far between.

Why isn’t a new relief road going to be built?

The Dunwear Lane site – and the wider East Bridgwater allocation – has been proposed for development long before the Sedgemoor Local Plan was ratified.

As far back as the mid-2000s, local councillors were trying to persuade Somerset County Council to create a new relief road to the south, which would connect Dunwear Lane to the Colley Lane industrial estate and provide an onward connection to either the town centre or junction 24 of the M5.

David Preece, who served on Sedgemoor District Council, between 2003 and 2011, met with highway offices back in 2006 to discuss the matter.

He said: “Around 2006, I arranged a meeting with county highways, and proposed that Bower Lane should be kept open and widened with paving, to link in with the new roundabout.

Squibbers Way in Bridgwater. (Image: Daniel Mumby)

“I also proposed that the road be linked into Dunwear Lane and link up with the back of Squibbers Way – which links into the Taunton Road roundabout.”

Squibbers Way, which was completed in December 2019, was designed to provide a relief road for traffic between the M5 and Colley Lane, allowing vehicles to move over the River Parrett and the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal without having to go into the town centre and use the busy A38 Taunton Road at peak times.

The £18.4m road – named after the squibbing tradition which forms an integral part of the annual Bridgwater Carnival – includes numerous links to existing walking and cycling routes, and will result in new commercial space being unlocked in the years ahead.

Mr Preece – who lives near the Dunwear Lane development site – opined that the county council had rejected the idea since they did not wish to invest in Bridgwater’s infrastructure.

He said: “They took it back to Taunton and binned it. There was not a land ownership issue, they just didn’t want to spend the money.”

What has the council said?

Somerset Council – which replaced the county and district councils in April – did not respond directly to Mr Preece’s comments, but confirmed that a new relief road from Dunwear Lane was not in the pipeline.

A spokesman said: “A link road is not part of the conversation with the developers looking to bring forward the East Bridgwater urban extension.

“A spine road will be delivered to link north to south, but primarily the emphasis is on active travel improvements in terms of connectivity as part of our commitment to sustainable transport options.”

The existing cycle route at the River Parrett. (Image: Daniel Mumby)

Pedestrians and cyclists can currently access the town centre by heading to the southern end of Dunwear Lane, turning onto Plum Lane and then linking up to National Cycle Network route three, which runs along the River Parrett up to Salmon Parade.

The Bridgwater local cycling and walking infrastructure plan (LCWIP), which was published in August 2022, lays out numerous improvements to the town’s active travel network which could be delivered through council funding, central government grants or contributions from housing developments.

Salmon Parade – which includes the site of the town’s new health and social care academy – will be upgraded with new cycle lanes as part of the delivery of the Celebration Mile, scheduled to begin in early-2024.

There is other funding available within the Bridgwater town deal for walking and cycling improvements; however, these are likely to be focussed around the town centre, including the area surrounding the Northgate Docks.

The draft legal agreement for the Folletts Farm site – known as a Section 106 agreement – includes a commitment by the developers to deliver “works to improve pedestrian and cycling links to the town”.

However, the agreement does not currently specify how much money will be set aside for this, or how far-reaching this work will be.

Some of this funding could in theory be used to enhance the existing links to the riverside cycle route – but it will require the co-operation of the existing businesses and landowners on either spur of Plum Lane.

What happens next?

Formal planning consent for the Folletts Farm development is expected to be issued in the coming months – meaning that construction is likely to begin before the end of 2024.

The new roundabout linking the Folletts Farm and Strawberry Grange sites to the A372 is expected to be completed by April 2024.

A decision on the plans for 750 homes north of Strawberry Grange is expected to be taken within the next 12 months by the council’s planning committee north, which handles decisions on major applications within the former Sedgemoor area.

The council is expected to announce before Christmas which schemes across Somerset will benefit from £1.5m of funding from Active Travel England, which was announced during the summer.

A public drop-in event on the Bridgwater town deal, including the active travel improvements, will be held at Bridgwater Town Hall on Thursday (October 19) between 2pm and 7pm. For more information, visit www.bridgwatertowndeal.co.uk.