Dunball Services near M5 and Bridgwater won't have second access point

Monte Blackburn Ltd. has been delivering the Dunball services near junction 23 of the M5 in Bridgwater, comprising a BP petrol station (containing a Subway and an Asda On-The-Go store), a Greggs drive-thru, a Starbucks and a KFC outlet.

The services are currently accessed from the A38 Bristol Road towards Highbridge, with the original plans envisioning a second access providing an access onto the eastbound A39, towards the motorway and Glastonbury.

The developer (and its partner, the Euro Garages Group) ran into land ownership issues with delivering this exit, claiming the issue dated back to the construction of the M5 in 1975.

Sedgemoor District Council’s development committee voted in October 2021 to allow the construction of the services to continue provided the access issue was resolved within six months of the new units being occupied.

Somerset Council (which replaced the district council in April 2023) has now approved amended plans which remove this second access altogether – meaning all patrons of the service station will now enter and exit onto the A38.

Part of the A39 access road has already been built within the boundary of the site, stopping short of the existing boundary near the road.

This decision leaves this as a road to nowhere, with no scope for using it even as an emergency access into the services.

Access to Dunball Services on the A38 Bristol Road. (Image: Jennings Design Ltd)

Jake McLeod, principal consultant at Walsingham Planning (representing the developer) said: “For reasons outside of the applicant’s control, the access from the A39 cannot be completed.

“The applicant has endeavoured to deliver the access, but due to land ownership issues, it is not able to and these issues may never be resolved.

“It is therefore proposed to operate the development indefinitely with all vehicular movements being taken via the constructed access on the A38.

“This will not have an unacceptable impact on highway safety. The residual cumulative impacts of the proposal on the road network will be nowhere near severe, and safe and suitable access to the development will be achievable for all users.”

Puriton Parish Council did not formally object to the planned changed but asked that new landscaping be carried out within the site, describing the existing arrangement as “unsightly”.

However, several local residents did object strongly to the proposals, arguing that the A38 could not sustain any further traffic given local housing growth and the ongoing impact of the Hinkley Point C construction programme.

Mr A. Blake, who lives on Downend Crescent, said: “The site was originally granted permission with the understanding that it would have a second exit onto the A39, as the A38 was too busy to take all the development’s traffic.

“With the continued growth of Hinkley Point C workers using the Junction 23 park and ride, it is becoming apparent that the A38 cannot deal with the amount of traffic using the Dunball roundabout.”

Miss C. Brookes (who lives on the same road) added: “The applicant should have been researching thoroughly and been away of any potential issues long before they even started putting together any plans for the site.

“The reality is that there are queues on the A38 every day, and while I know the Dunball roundabout is due for improvement, we still wait for this – and anticipate the considerable disruption this will cause.”

The plans were approved by the council’s planning officers through their delegated powers, rather than a public decision by its planning committee north (which handles major applications within the former Sedgemoor area).

The council is expected to begin its long-awaited £5.3m upgrade of the Dunball roundabout in the summer or early-autumn, once the ongoing tendering process has been completed.

The remaining units within the Dunball Services site will be built out within the coming months.