Bridgwater Needs a Northern Bypass

OVER 1,400 PEOPLE HAVE SIGNED OUR PAPER BASED PETITION WITH THE SAME PETITION STATEMENT. For more information go to http://tinyurl.com/sdc-website

YOU CAN HELP US BY JOINING US AT SEDGEMOOR TRAFFIC ACTION GROUP (http://stagonline.org) AND BY FORWARDING THE LINK TO THIS WEBSITE TO SIGN THE ONLINE VERSION - http://petition.stagonline.org - TO ANYONE WHO LIVES IN SEDGEMOOR THAT MIGHT WANT TO SUPPORT US, THANK YOU.

Petition Background

EDF Energy is proposing to build a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset. This could be a great boost to the town of Bridgwater and the surrounding area however EDF propose to send all the heavy goods vehicles required at the site each day as well as the shuttle buses from two of their major park and ride sites down Bridgwater’s already over congested roads.

EDF want to build a freight management facility for 85 lorries and 1,300 cars at junction 23 of the M5 and a freight management facility for 55 lorries and 650 cars at junction 24. These lorries will be held at the freight management facilities until they are sent to the Hinkley Point site. The park and ride sites will operate shuttle buses to and from the Hinkley Point site and they will have to move several thousand workers every 24 hours as EDF plan to operate several shifts per day.

Under EDF’s proposal traffic will take two routes. Traffic on route one will leave the M5 at junction 23 and follow the A38 into Bridgwater heading out to the A39 (towards Cannington) via Western Way. The second route will leave the M5 at junction 24 and take the A38 (Taunton Road) into Bridgwater and turn left on to the A39 by Morrison’s. Both these routes are already very congested and pass a great deal of residential property, some of which is very close to the road.

In addition to this Sedgemoor District Council has before it an application from a private developer for a large 45 acre development, on farmland in North Petherton at junction 24 of the M5, including a five storey hotel, commercial space, petrol station, EDF freight management facility and park and ride for Hinkley Point construction workers. If successful this ‘Bridgwater Gateway’ development will create more traffic problems and has the potential to double in size in the future.

The roundabout next to the proposed site of the ‘Bridgwater Gateway’ development is already a major traffic black-spot due to its poor design, the motorway services and the congested A38 Taunton Road. Traffic jams form frequently between Bridgwater and North Petherton especially over the summer weekends and the extra traffic this development will generate can only make the problem worse.

We believe it should be a requirement of the ‘permit to construct’ Hinkley Point C that EDF build a northern bypass for Bridgwater. This bypass would run from junction 23 of the M5 and connect to the A39 west of Cannington. It would run across land that cannot be used for houses as it is in a flood plain.

EDF claim they want to work with Sedgemoor District Council to mitigate the effects of the Hinkley Point C Development on the town and leave a post construction legacy for the residents.

A northern bypass would be worthwhile both now and in the future. If there was a northern bypass it would absorb seasonal traffic and additionally it would remove the need for EDF to have a large facility at junction 24, rendering the Bridgwater Gateway Development an unnecessary and unjustifiable intrusion on farmland close to the residential area of North Petherton. EDF say that building roads is not their job but they propose to build a bypass in Cannington to prevent the traffic going through the village. What about the residents of Bridgwater and surrounding area?

The Hinkley Point C Development will take in the region of 7 to 10 years to complete. Do we really want traffic misery for all that time and what about if there was ever a proposal to build further nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point site?