Work on next phase of key Taunton walking and cycling route to begin by the autumn

Work on the next phase of a key walking and cycling route through Taunton town centre will begin by the autumn, Somerset Council has confirmed. The council has been seeking to push on with the Firepool regeneration scheme, which will see the former cattle market site on Canal Road regenerated with a mixture of residential, commercial and cultural development.

Following the delivery of the new access road from the A3087 Trenchard Way in early-June 2023, and the completion of the new sewerage connections within the site over the last summer, the council announced in January that work would soon begin on the northern section of the boulevard running through the site. The council confirmed on Thursday (June 20) that the second phase of this boulevard, which will link up with the cycling network along the River Tone, will begin being implemented by the autumn following the completion of a recent tendering process.

The Firepool boulevard forms part of a new active travel route which, when completed, will link Taunton railway station with Vivary Park via the Firepool and Coal Orchard regeneration sites. The delivery of the boulevard is being funded by £5m from the government's future high streets fund, with the northern and southern elements being split into separate contracts to balance speed of delivery with levels of local disruption.

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The northern boulevard - which will cost £3m to deliver - runs from the new junction on Trenchard Way to Canal Way around the former GWR building, which will be converted into offices, commercial space and a restaurant under plans approved by Somerset West and Taunton Council in March 2022. The southern boulevard - which will cost £2m to implement - will link the northern section to the River Tone and include water gardens and an amphitheatre, in line with plans which were approved in November 2022.

From there, pedestrians and cyclists will use the existing cycle lanes along the north bank of the river to reach the Morrisons footbridge, which the council is intending to widen to allow cyclists to ride across without having to dismount. Pedestrians will then proceed through Coal Orchard (a.k.a. Riverside) and the pedestrianised area around St. James Street onto the A3027 North Street and High Street, before traversing the A38 Upper High Street via a new, improved crossing point to reach Vivary Park.

A council spokesman said: "The future high streets funding [of £13.9m in total] was to deliver work at Firepool, Coal Orchard, and an active travel link (the Upper High Street junction and the new bridge). The new bridge scheme and the southern boulevard schemes will come after the Upper High Street junction is completed.

"Although this funding needs to be spent by the end of March 2025, we have secured match funding through the community infrastructure levy (CIL), so both projects could go into April or May if needed."

CIL is paid by housing developers and can be collected from numerous different sites to pay for significant infrastructure, such as the new Orchard Grove Primary School being constructed on the western edge of Taunton.

Because the future high streets funding is ring-fenced for these projects, it cannot be diverted to other capital schemes in Taunton or for day-to-day spending on front-line services (e.g. fixing potholes). The spokesman continued: "The northern boulevard is progressing as expected and there is some contingency in the budget as unexpected things often turn up, especially when working in a town centre.

"We hope to award the southern boulevard contract on July 29. There is then a 'standstill period' before we can enter contract negotiations and they will of course take some time, and then there’s a 'mobilisation period' of up to two months.

"There is, therefore, no start date yet and realistically it looks like autumn, though things can change." Once work on the boulevard is delivered, the council's attention can turn to the future of the GWR building, which sits opposite the recently completed Firepool Centre for Digital Innovation.

The spokesman said: "The GWR building is being used as a site office at the moment, but in the longer term it will be something for our strategic assets team to consider." The council's planning committee west is expected to make a decision on the plans to widen the Morrisons footbridge before the end of the year.