Taunton motorists face up to five months’ disruption as work to connect a key regeneration site to the town’s railway station gets underway.

Somerset West and Taunton Council has been seeking to progress its plans to regenerate the former cattle market site on Canal Road (which has lain vacant since 2008), filling the space with housing, commercial units, a hotel, cinema and potentially a multi-purpose entertainment venue.

The council’s planning committee granted permission in February for a new access road which would connect the site to the A3087 Trenchard Way, providing a safe route for motorists and delivering improved facilities for pedestrians and cyclists.

Somerset County Council has now confirmed work to deliver the new junction will officially begin after Christmas – and may result in up to five months of disruption in the form of temporary traffic lights.

The two councils are working with Great Western Railway and Network Rail to deliver both the junction and the associated cycling facilities, providing an unbroken link from the railway station (and its multi-storey car park) to the £11m digital innovation centre (which will be opening in early-2023) and the wider Firepool site.

The councils’ chosen contractor, Milestone (which is based in Stevenage), will create a new crossroads on Trenchard Way, forming the main access to the multi-storey car park and allowing buses to collect passengers directly from the railway station.

The project will be funded by the two councils, with contributions from the Department for Transport (DfT) and the Heart of the South West local enterprise partnership (LEP).

This followed an announcement in February 2021 where the county council allocated £1.27m to deliver the new junction, of which £400,000 came from the government’s getting building fund.

The council’s official Travel Somerset roadworks portal states that there will be temporary traffic lights in force on the road between January 3 and April 28 – spelling around four months of disruption for motorists.

However, a statement released by the council on Tuesday morning (November 22) confirms the project will begin at the end of January and will take “about five months to complete, pending weather conditions and other unforeseen circumstances.”

Councillor Mike Rigby, portfolio holder for transport and digital, said: “This development forms a vital part of our vision for the future of Taunton, one we have been working hard to deliver in partnership for a number of years and it’s great news this essential next step will soon be in place.

“This has been a complex scheme to schedule, involving different partners. We also had to factor in the Toneway Creech Castle scheme and ensure that these two important projects did not overlap.”

In addition to the Creech Castle scheme – which concluded in September – the council also chose to delay the Firepool access road construction in light of its ongoing upgrade of traffic signals around Somerset’s county town.

Mr Rigby added: “Accessibility for cyclists, pedestrians, vehicles and public transport is central to the Firepool development which will boost jobs and investment in Taunton, whilst ensuring people have a proper choice to use alternative, greener means of transport to support our climate change objectives for Somerset.

“Ultimately, the cycling infrastructure will link with a dedicated route for cyclists into the town centre reflecting our connectivity ambitions embedded in Taunton’s garden town status.”

The district council is currently consulting on its revised masterplan for the Firepool site, which is expected to be adopted by the full council in March 2023.

To have your say online, visit www.firepool.commonplace.is before January 2, 2023. Hard copies will also be available in the council’s Taunton offices and both the town’s libraries until this date.

Consultation events will also be held on the following dates:

  • Monday, November 28, 7:30pm: online only (sign up via the consultation link)
  • Tuesday, December 6, 5-9pm: Deane House, Belvedere Road, Taunton
  • Thursday, December 9, noon-5pm: Deane House, Belvedere Road, Taunton
  • Monday, December 12, 5pm: online only (sign up via the consultation link) and focused on local businesses