Decision details

The Somer Valley Links project covers travel between Midsomer Norton, Westfield and Radstock and Bath/Bristol along the A37, A362 and A367.  It aims to develop better infrastructure to provide more options to travel sustainably – whether walking, wheeling (using a wheelchair or mobility scooter), cycling or using the bus.

The proposals aim to:

·  Improve bus stops

·  Extend bus lanes and improve junctions

·  Create new cycling and walking routes

·  Introduce mobility hubs – places where people can switch between different types of transport easily.

(1)  To delegate approval to the Executive Director of Sustainable Communities, in consultation with the s151 Officer, to formally accept grants from the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority relating to this scheme.

(2)  To approve a capital budget of £1.744m to develop the Full Business Case (FBC), with final preliminary and detailed designs for the scheme; this comprises £1.414m CRSTS grant and £330k match funding from developer contributions.

A Climate Emergency was declared in March 2019 along with an Ecological Emergency in July 2019. In response to this B&NES has pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. Active Travel (walking, wheeling and cycling) routes and enabling better travel choices for residents, are part of a package of measures to mitigate the climate crisis through the adoption of more sustainable and healthy transport options.

The project will provide people with greater transport choice, providing those able to use alternative modes to the car with genuine choice in how they travel, making it easier and safer to use low carbon modes. This will help B&NES to decarbonise its transport system, promoting the move away from using cars to improve air quality and reduce carbon emissions along the corridor, with public health, regeneration and economic benefits.

The proposed interventions include mobility hubs at key locations along the A37, A362, and A367 corridors where demand to switch between modes is likely to be high; walking, wheeling, and cycling route improvements; and bus stops, bus lanes and junction improvements. These will be developed through the FBC stage including final preliminary and detailed designs, full delivery and construction costings and value for money assessment, as well as further public consultation as designs are refined.

The Combined Authority to continue to lead the project, with B&NES officer time limited to an advisory role and Highways approval only.

The Council is the Highway Authority so the delivery of highway interventions would be more complex in that delivery model. Local community engagement will be enhanced through increased cross-service liaison and interfaces with other council projects.

To not proceed with the project beyond Outline Business Case stage and return CRSTS grant funds to the Combined Authority for distribution across other projects within the sub-region, or to be returned to central government. This is a transformational opportunity for the corridors in question, not proceeding would prevent this scale of investment from taking place.