Meet the cycling group trying to transform town's active travel network

Bridgwater's cycling campaign group is seeking new members as it drives forward further improvements in the town's active travel network. Bridgwater has seen numerous walking and cycling improvements implemented in recent years, funded through a mixture of central government grants, contributions from housing developers and mitigation from the Hinkley Point C construction programme.

The Bridgwater Area Cycling Campaign (BACC) has been closely involved with many of these improvements, providing both technical knowledge and first-hand experience of using the town's existing network to ensure Somerset Council gets the best out of the available funding. With further upgrades due to see the light of day in the coming months and years, the group is now looking to recruit new members to ensure that it will continue getting easier to get around Bridgwater without having to use a car.

BACC communications manager Colin Gummer said: "Prior to getting involved with the group, I was already doing bike deliveries - Deliveroo and Uber Eats around town, which I absolutely love, and I still do that. I knew the existing infrastructure pretty well - I knew the town by bike like the back of my hand.

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"We’ve achieved a lot in the five or so years we’ve been running. While we certainly can’t claim all the credit for the schemes that have come to fruition, we’ve at least had an influential voice on them all, if nothing else."

Over the last few years, BACC has been involved in numerous high-profile schemes, including the delivery of a north-south cycle path from the Dunball roundabout to the Northgate Docks, via the Express Park and the A39 Western Way. This path forms part of the purple route within the Bridgwater local cycling and walking infrastructure plan (LCWIP), and will eventually run all the way to the planned gigafactory in Puriton, using the existing footbridge over the M5.

The council is currently upgrading the cycle links around the Dunball roundabout as part of a £10.7m improvement scheme, providing better links to the nearby services, the Downend area of Puriton and the existing path along the A38 Bristol Road. Work recently concluded on a short section along Linham Road, creating a safer link along the River Parrett between the docks and the A39.

In addition to this scheme, the group had detailed input into the design of the Celebration Mile, which is currently being delivered using £9m from the government-funded Bridgwater town deal. It has also sought to raise the profile of cycling for both pleasure and business, staging four 'Kidical Mass' events (family-friendly bike rides around the town centre) and successfully lobbying to reduce the speed limit on the busy A372 Westonzoyland Road, which connects Bridgwater to Langport via numerous villages on the Somerset Levels.

Mr Gummer added: "We’ve also been influential in decisions around how walking and cycling should be integrated into the big new developments around the town. These developments include the Strawberry Grange site on Bower Lane, the Folletts Farm site, Cokerhurst Farm (which is currently under construction), the Bridgwater Gateway site and improvements in Sydenham Manor."

Additional funding for walking and cycling improvements in Bridgwater has been provided by central government, in the form of grants from its towns fund and levelling up fund. The following projects are expected to see the light of day in the coming years:

• The regeneration of the docks, including a new shared used bridge to link up with the Celebration Mile

• The reopening of the Albert Street cutting a key section of the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal towpath
  

• A new shared used bridge on the A39 Bath Road over the railway line, linking Bridgwater and Taunton College more easily to the town centre

• Improved cycle paths in and around The Clink, tied into improvements to the Cross Rifles roundabout and linking up to the 'purple route'

Mr Gummer said: "As BACC enters a new era, we are actively looking for new faces to help out and continue the great work we’ve got going so far. Do you know of an unloved bike route?

"Maybe there’s a ‘missing link’ on your commute or your school run? If you know of any parts of the Bridgwater active travel network that are lacking, maybe you could help influence the future direction."

The council is currently facing huge pressures on its budget, with increased demand for children's services and adult social care reducing the funding and manpower available to deliver active travel schemes. Mr Gummer said the example set by other voluntary organisations, such as the Strawberry Line Society, could be successfully implemented in Bridgwater to ensure further enhancements would be forthcoming.

He said: "Somerset Council may be cash-strapped right now, but that’s all the more reason to support their work via the voluntary sector.

"We have a wealth of experience and knowledge we can share with you, so whatever you choose to do, however big or small, you will be supported by us.

"Back in the 1970s, the Netherlands had the 'Stop de Kindermoord' movement - 'stop killing children'. Lots of kids were getting killed, and the parents rose up and said: 'Look, we're not going to stand for this'.

"There were die-ins in the street, mass protests, and that's how they ended up with the cycling culture they've got today.

"There was grassroots public support, and that's what I've always been trying to push with - engaging people in a constructive way, not trying to get people's back up, but trying to genuinely get them to see the benefits."

To find out more information about BACC's work, or to become a member, visit www.thebacc.org.uk/contact.