Have your say on the A358 Taunton to Southfields
National Highways wants your views on its design changes for the upgrade of the A358 in Somerset through a supplementary consultation.
The planned upgrade of the A358, a key route linking the South West and London and South East, will see a single lane stretch of carriageway between the M5 at Taunton and the Southfields roundabout upgraded to dual carriageway.
Following more than 900 responses to a public consultation in 2021, National Highways has made further refinements to the proposed route, including:
• Changes to access arrangements at Nexus 25 and Mattock’s Tree Green junctions
• Updates to our proposals for walker, cyclist, horse-rider and disabled user access
• A number of new areas identified as suitable for habitat creation, as well as updated proposals for hedgerow improvements and woodland management
• A change in location for the main construction compound
Details about these and other changes made since our 2021 public consultation will be available from 24 May, when National Highways will welcome your feedback.
Katherine Liddington, Senior Project Manager for the A358 scheme:
“We plan to upgrade approximately 8.5 miles of the A358 to a new high-quality and high-performing dual carriageway, which will reduce congestion, enhance safety and improve connectivity for road users and local communities, while unlocking economic growth in Somerset and beyond.
“Since our 2021 consultation we’ve made some changes to our preliminary design, which will improve safety and access to local roads and reduce the impact on communities, the environment and the local landscape.
“As part of our planning, we would like to hear your thoughts on our design changes before we submit our planning application later this year.”
In delivering the scheme, National Highways are aiming to:
• improve the capacity of the road to reduce delays and queues that occur during peak hours and at key times of the year i.e. the height of summer.
• support economic growth, facilitating growth in jobs and housing by providing a free-flowing and reliable connection between the South East and the South West
• make the road safer, by providing additional capacity and reducing driver stress. We’ll also improve routes for pedestrians, cyclists, horse riders in the area
• protect the environment and look for opportunities to improve it, minimising any unnecessary impact of the scheme on the surrounding natural and historic environment and landscape
• work with local communities to reduce the impact of the road, and look for ways to improve local people’s quality of life
• make journey times more reliable and resilient; by providing more capacity it will become easier to manage traffic when incidents occur
The supplementary consultation runs from 24 May to 26 June 2022 with feedback helping National Highways develop its planning application for a Development Consent Order (DCO) to be submitted later this year.
A DCO is required for all nationally significant infrastructure projects and will allow for the Planning Inspectorate to make a recommendation to the Secretary of State, who will decide on whether development consent should be granted for the proposed scheme.
All plans will be available on a dedicated consultation website and virtual exhibition room, that can be accessed from 10:00 on the 24 May 2022.
National Highways is holding three public consultation events:
• Thursday 26 May from 11am to 8pm: Monks Yard (Conference Room), Horton Cross Farm, Horton Cross, Ilminster, Somerset, TA19 9PT
• Wednesday 8 June from 11am to 8pm: Somerset County Cricket Club, The Cooper Associates County Ground, St. James Street, Taunton, Somerset, TA1 1JT
• Saturday 11 June from 11am to 6pm: Taunton Racecourse, Orchard Portman, Taunton, Somerset, TA3 7BL
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