Tag: landowners

  • Greenway Update

    Greenway Update

    Railway Station

    We can’t even begin to express our joy at the announcement that Wellington will have its railway station reinstated!

    For us it means the developments around it will almost certainly go ahead on both sides of the line, and this means the haul road the Network Rail will build will become incorporated into the active travel plan from the station to Tonedale.

    By coincidence, this also happens to be the first 500m of the Greenway, and will provide links to the Toneworks development as well as the natural joining spot for a proposed path from Langford Budv ille to Wellington.

    Are you a landowner?

    If so, if your land is along the river valley from Wellington to Taunton, we would love to hear from you. We don’t really know the route of the proposed Greenway, but we have many thoughts and ideas which will doubtless mature as we discuss these with you. Four significant landowners have already indicated their wish to accommodate this project, but we need to talk to everyone, and to get those talks going very soon.

    Walk the Greenway

    The next (and probably last for 2025) walk along the Greenway is planned for 16th August.

    Linking Communities

    The Greenway has never been solely about getting from Wellington to Taunton. Our plan has always included linking many smaller communities in the area either along separate paths or by making use of Quiet Lanes. Have a look at the recently added interactive map on our website to see some of the suggestions being discussed in local government and beyond.

  • Somerset Council supports the Greenway

    Somerset Council supports the Greenway

    It has been an interesting end to 2023 for the Grand Western Greenway. We held our inaugural meeting 12 months ago and set the following objectives for the year which felt pretty stretching at the time:

    1. Recruit 250 supporters over the next six months
    2. Engage with two landowners and negotiate a written commitment
    3. Participate in the Sustainable Travel Between Wellington and Taunton study commissioned by Somerset Council
    4. Raise £1500
    5. Create publicity material to promote the campaign
    6. Participate in one promotion event such as the Wellington Pop-Up shop

    We described the first year as one in which we wanted to make friends with people, and we have certainly done that! Let’s look at those objectives, and maybe you can decide how we’ve done.

    1. Recruit 259 supporters. We have over 400 people subscribed to the campaign, and have recruited businesses ranging from small CICs to the largest employer in Somerset. Somerset NHS Trust and the Integrated Care Board as provider and commissioner recognise the enormous benefit to be had from ready access to nature and exercise. Do you reckon we can move that up to 1000 people this year?
    2. We are actively engaged with two landowners, both of whom are having realistic and positive discussions with us about how they can best support the Greenway. There is a long way to go, but engagement and commitment are our touchstones for 2024.
    3. We have participated in the unusual Somerset Council study. I say unusual because it came to a conclusion that they don’t seem to support themselves. That was that the Council should build a path alongside the A38. This is despite it costing at least four times as much as a countryside path, is generally unpopular with all but a small group of travellers, and starts a mile from Wellington town centre and ends at least another mile from Taunton town centre. The Council acknowledges that they would be very unlikely to build such a path and therefore fully support the community-led Greenway. This support is extended to any number of Parish and Town Councils, as well as receiving the enthusiastic backing of County Councillors across the political spectrum.
    4. We have raised in excess of £1500 pounds through the generosity of Taunton Town 
    5. Richard Huish College have taken the Greenway on as a project for their A level art and design students to develop the materials to promote the campaign. They have received their brief from us, and have a deadline to complete in time for our last objective….
    6. We have the Pop-Up shop in Wellington Fore Street booked for a week in April!