Chard relief road delay
Residents are apparently being left in 'limbo'
Last updated 24th Oct 2022
Chard residents will be “left in limbo” for months or even years over the fate of a promised relief road.
The Chard eastern relief road (ERR) is a crucial component of South Somerset District Council’s Local Plan (which runs until 2028), and is intended to complement the delivery of new homes to the south and east of the town.
The need for the road was identified when the Local Plan was published in 2015, but to date not a single metre has been built despite numerous new housing developments in the town being approved.
A new report laying out options for how to proceed was expected to come before the council’s area west committee in July for discussion, but was subsequently pushed back to give officers more time to complete it.
But officers have now admitted that this report is still not ready, describing it as “a work in progress” and arguing it would be “misleading and unhelpful” to provide any further detail at this time.
Under the current Local Plan, the ERR will stretch from the A358 Tatworth Road to the A30 Crewkerne Road, taking pressure off the existing ‘Convent Link’ junction where these two roads meet in the town centre.
Rather than building the road itself via central government grants or external borrowing, the council envisioned the road coming forward as part of housing developments within the Chard Eastern Development Area (CEDA), which will deliver up to 2,700 new homes, 17 hectares of employment land and two new primary schools.
Starting from the south, the road will begin at a new roundabout on the A358 and cross the B3162 Forton Road to the east of the existing houses.
It will then move north around the back of the Lordleaze Hotel, skirting the edge of the current employment units on Millfield and join up with the A30 to the east of a new research and development facility for Numatic, one of the town’s largest employers.
From there, improvements will be made to the existing roads on Oaklands Avenue and Touches Lane (possibly as part of a planned development of 230 homes on the A30), with a new road cutting across Chaffcombe Lane (leading to Chard Reservoir) and rejoining the A358 near the junction with Thorndun Park Drive – near the planned site of a new 66-bed care home.
David Bell, chairman of the Chard Area Resilience Group (CARG), said the fine details for the ERR route remained “shrouded in mystery” when he addressed the area west committee in Chard on Wednesday evening (October 19).
He said: “Local residents are extremely concerned. It the relief road threatens to devalue, not improve, residential amenity and will have a large environmental impact.”
He added that the A358 was likely to be “overwhelmed by storm-water” if plans for the first stage of the ERR – part of a 252-home development proposed by Persimmon Homes South West – were approved.
Peter Paddon, the council’s acting director for place and recovery, said the delivery of the ERR remained a key element of the Local Plan – but also divulged that little action could be taken in the remaining five months of the council’s life, before it was replaced by the unitary Somerset Council.
He said: “The situation is that our Local Plan identified the need for an eastern relief road to relieve town centre traffic. The indicative route around the reservoir was shown to the south of the nature reserve.
“Before any construction can occur, any necessary environment works – including impact assessments – are required alongside planning permission. There will also be public consultation.
“The potential alignment options work, which is a work in progress, will inform the Local Plan review, and will be carried forward by the new unitary authority in five months’ time.”
Councillor Dave Bulmer described the Local Plan as being “almost dead” and called for a decision on the Persimmon plans to be delayed until the unitary authority took control in April 2023.
Councillor Sue Osborne concurred: “It does concern me that Chard is going to be left in limbo. We have a Local Plan which didn’t work because the phasing of the CEDA didn’t come forward as it should have done.”
Mr Paddon responded: “This is a work in progress, so to report on it would be misleading and unhelpful.
“When we are ready, when it will add value, when it will be beneficial rather than causing confusion, is when we will do a written update.”
It is not currently clear whether decisions on planning applications will be handled by formal committees within the new council or whether they will be devolved to the proposed local community networks (LCNs).
An update on the LCNs will come before the local government reorganisation joint scrutiny committee when it meets in Taunton on October 27 at 2pm.