Banwell bypass approved: report of the full North Somerset Council meeting
The meeting on March 15 saw the planning committee vote unanimously to grant planning permission for the new road
“As an elected member, all of us have to make a very difficult decision,” councillor Ann Harley told North Somerset Council’s planning committee as they voted on a controversial bypass.
The meeting on March 15 saw the planning committee vote unanimously to grant planning permission for the new road, which will take A-road traffic around the congested village of Banwell.
The A371 runs straight through the heart of the village, at one point narrowing to a single track, but the plan to tackle the congestion this causes by building a bypass has been controversial.
Ms Harley, who represents both Banwell and neighbouring village Winscome on North Somerset Council, said: “It has created bad feeling amongst villages and it has also created bad feeling amongst friends.”
In particular, there was opposition to the plan in the neighbouring villages of Winscombe, Sandford, and Churchill — with Churchill Parish Council writing to the Prime Minister to ask him to stop the plans — as they fear the bypass will move the congestion down the road.
Normal protocol was suspended at the meeting to allow four times as many public speakers to share their views on the bypass as normal.
Tom Nicholson from Winscombe and Sandford Parish Council said that he opposed the scheme “with sadness and disappointment.”
He said that a bypass was needed but told councillors: “I ask that you do the job properly, rather than move the problem from one village to another. ”
He added: “Please read the transport assessment. It shows very clearly that you are going to create congestion in Winscombe.”
Archie Forbes, who also sits on the parish council, said he wanted the application refused so that the parish council’s proposed traffic mitigations could be taken into account.
He said: “Your project team have not listened to the community and they have done nothing to address our concerns.”
Simon Hegarty, who lives in Churchill, added that he thought the “real reason” for the bypass was to support new housing developments — although Blagdon councillor Patrick Keating said that new developments would be coming with or without the bypass.
But Banwell Parish Council’s Paul Blatchford urged councillors to approve the plan. He said: “This bypass will improve the health and wellbeing of its residents by the removal of vehicles that currently go straight throughout the village.”
He added: “Many near misses have been reported, particularly around the zebra crossing near the school.”
He noted: “Throughout this process, we have been aware of local opposition to the development and for the most part this didn’t come from within our village.”
Banwell local Steve Voller, who last week led villagers in a protest in support of the bypass, said that nobody wanted new roads but Banwell’s situation was unique. He added: “Simple routine journeys become nightmares.”
The planning agent for the bypass, Alan Pitt of Arup, said that the new road would reduce traffic in Banwell by 70% and speed up journey times through the village by 45%.
He insisted that the benefits of the scheme outweighed the disadvantages and said: “It’s considered that its the best available solution.”
Councillor Karin Haverson said: “My ward includes both Banwell and Winscombe … so you can image its a tricky balancing act. … It’s very obvious that the gain for Banwell will lead to some increase further down the stream.”
She urged council officers to keep monitoring the impacts on the traffic in Banwell’s neighbouring villages. But she said: “As somebody who has contributed to the traffic in Banwell for some time, I think I am personally prepared to share that burden.”
Ms Harley, who also represents the ward, said that the proposed bypass was one of the best solutions proposed during her time as a councillor but said: “Nothing will ever be perfect.”
She said that working in the post office on the busy West Road in Banwell had been “the worst experience of my life” and told the meeting: “We have to understand what the people of Banwell want to do and are going through, because frankly its a living hell.”
The extensive plans for the scheme do not just cover the bypass itself, but also new speed limits and crossings in nearby villages in order to reduce the additional traffic impact caused by the bypass.
But an officer from the council’s Highways and Transport Development and Management team said that, with the traffic no longer going through Banwell’s narrow main road, there should not be a bottleneck any more to pass on.
He said: “I don’t think its correct to say the bottleneck is being moved elsewhere, it is being bypassed.”
The planning committee voted unanimously to grant planning permission for the bypass. But the compulsory purchase orders passed by the council to secure the land for the bypass will still need to go through a public inquiry before any construction work starts.
The council hopes to begin work in 2023 and to open the bypass in 2024.