In 2022, the long standing campaign to see a cycle route built between Wellington and Taunton focused on a route alongside the A38. Somerset Council pledged to establish the route by 2025, although this has slipped and slipped as all pledges do.
The most recent development at a cost of £50,000, has been made by the Council to commission a Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC), the purpose of which is to be prepared for submission to the Department for Transport (DfT) in the event of competitive funding becoming available - an 'oven-ready' plan! There is no such funding at the moment, and the SOBC has been delayed by several months before it made any real progress.
The firm of consultants preparing it, Stantec , are briefed to put forward a plan for' improving sustainable transport between the two towns, and this is suitably vague so that everything, including cycling, can be looked at. We would have preferred them to focus solely on creating a cycle and walking path, but this specification as it is could include rail travel, bus travel or, as one officer recently said in jest, 'the addition of anothe rcar lane on the A38!'
Nevertheless, the SOBC (or feasibility study as we would prefer to call it) is underway, and making progress towards a set of stakeholder workshops. The Grand Western Greenway Association has submitted a proposal document to Somerset Council and to Stantec. We have engaged with our pratners as we developed it, and you can download it below.
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