TRANSPORT campaigners have called for a rethink on plans for nearly 300 new homes on Taunton’s northern edge arguing it will put local residents at risk.

David Wilson Homes secured outline planning consent for the Nerrols Farm development back in 2010, intending to deliver around 900 homes and a new primary school between Lyngford Lane and the Maidenbrook Country Park in northern Taunton.

The developer put forward detailed proposals for phase three of the development, comprising 292 homes, back in July 2019, with a decision being repeatedly delayed in light of the ongoing phosphates crisis in Somerset.

After years of negotiations, a decision on revised plans for this site were deferred by Somerset Council’s planning committee west in mid-February, allowing more information on the access arrangements to be brought forward.

Transport campaigners have called for a substantial rethink on the access arrangements, and for improved walking and cycling links throughout the site to be delivered rapidly to ensure local children can safely get to school.

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Phases one and two were constructed using Nerrols Drive as a spine road, which runs north from the Nerrols roundabout before turning into Bossington Drive.

The earliest iterations of the phase three plans (which include 73 affordable homes) envisioned that Rossiter Road within the phase two site would be extended in a north-westerly direction, joining up with a new roundabout at the current junction of Lyngford Lane and Cheddon Road.

However, David Wilson Homes subsequently decided that phases two and three would not be linked together, with the phase three homes only being accessed via a T-junction at the top of Lyngford Lane.

Lyngford Lane itself would be stopped up, serving as a quiet walking and cycling route from the new homes to the local post office and other facilities, skirting past the Lyngford House social care development and the North Taunton Woolaway regeneration site.

A public right of way currently runs along the northern edge of the site, with a separate connection bending south between the phase two site and the existing homes on Leigh Road.

This latter footpath is currently an unattractive option for pedestrians, being very narrow, heavily overgrown, with no lighting (either foot-lighting or overhead lamps) and extremely muddy.

Both the northern perimeter route and the upper section of this north-south right of way will be upgraded as part of the phase three proposals, with the lower section being diverted onto Leigh Road as part of a new walking and cycling link.

An additional walking and cycling link will be provided from the Lyngford Lane access point along the southern side of Cheddon Road, providing a safe route to Pyrland School and the Wellsprings Leisure Centre as part of the ‘red route’ identified within the Taunton local cycling and walking infrastructure plan (LCWIP).

Mike Ginger from the Taunton Area Cycling Campaign (TACC) said he welcomed this latter element of the proposals – though he stated there were “some uncertainties on what can be achieved” in this location.

However, he raised serious concerns about the lack of a ‘through road’ and accompanying connections to the cycle paths south towards Lyngford Park Primary School and Nerrols Primary School.

He said “The proposed cycle and pedestrian link to Bossington Drive via Leigh Road should enable a safer link to and from the Cheddon Road area (including Pyrland School). We are concerned that there is a risk that this will not beimplemented.

“It does not seem sensible to allocate traffic from nearly 300 houses ontoCheddon Road. South of the new junction, Cheddon Road narrows to barely three metres wide.

“There is an existing planning application to form a further junction into proposed housing on this narrow section, which will worsen the situation. Further traffic is likely to be generated past Cheddon Fitzpaine Church School.”

Gladman Developments put forward plans back in October 2019 to build up to 150 homes at the Pyrland Farm site on the northern side of Cheddon Road.

A decision has been repeatedly delayed by the ongoing phosphates crisis, with the Congleton-based developer reducing the planned number of homes down to 112 following consultation with planning officers.

David Northey from the Somerset Bus Partnership said that the Nerrols Farm plans contained “little or no consideration for sustainable public transport”, with the lack of a spine road through the phase three site making it harder for local bus services to serve the new residents.

He explained: “The current routes 1 and 2 do not serve the new area, which means either a walk to Dorchester Road to catch the 1 service (which is already heavily over-subscribed) or Bossington Drive to catch the 2 service (which is only hourly and again at peak times suffers from overcrowding).

“These piecemeal additions to the Nerrols Farm development leave new residents with no choice but to take the car to get to the railway station, hospital, college or key business parks around the town as well as Taunton town centre.

“We are already suffering from traffic congestion in Taunton that has an adverse impact on the bus network.

“I am seeing no interventions that will help the bus network operate reliably and new home-owners will have poor access to the bus network.”

Taunton and Wellington MP Gideon Amos said that a spine road throughout all of Nerrols Farm would mean “traffic could flow more freely”, describing the most recent designs as “a more profligate use of precious greenfield land”.

He elaborated: “Lyngford Lane and the top of Cheddon Road are narrow country lanes which are already difficult to pass along when vehicles approach from the opposite direction.

“Based on national averages, 292 houses would generate between 1,752 and 2,336 vehicular movements per day on the single site junction proposed, feeding onto these lanes used by schoolchildren walking down to Cheddon Fitzpaine Church School in Rowford.

“It is already an extremely unsafe area for pedestrians due to no pavements, cycle paths or street lights. Increasing vehicle usage here will impact safety further.

“Without a road link to the south into the phase two site, as originally planned, parents have no direct access to their catchment school (Nerrols Primary School). Their only way to drive to school would be to go all the way through Priorswood or Cheddon Fitzpaine.”

The council has not indicated when any site visit will be carried out, or how soon the plans will come back before the committee.