Cyclists travelling across Chard could soon enjoy a much safer ride under ambitious plans to complete a coast-to-coast cycle route through the West Country.
Sustrans cycle route 33 – known as the Stop Line Way – runs for 75 miles from Weston-super-mare to Axminster, via Chard and Ilminster.
South Somerset District Council has been locked in negotiations with landowners to try and improve the route heading southbound out of Chard, removing the current crossing over the A358 heading to Chardstock.
The council’s area west committee has now committed £12,000 to a new study to identify options of diverting the route off-road, which could be implemented by the new unitary Somerset Council when it assumes power in April 2023.
The Stop Line Way is named after the Stop Taunton Line, built by the military in 1940 as a defence against a land invasion by German troops during the Second World War.
The route between Ilminster and Chard largely follows the route of the former Great Western Railway line, running alongside the A358 through Donyatt and entering Chard near the town’s reservoir and recycling centre.
From there, the route runs through Henson Park and the Millfield industrial estate on dedicated cycle paths.
But after Millfield, cyclists currently have to navigate through narrow and often congested residential streets, crossing the A358 Tatworth Road near the new Snowdon Grange development of 200 homes and following the back lanes through to the Devon border.
The council’s area west committee agreed at a virtual meeting on Wednesday evening (May 18) to spend up to £12,000 on a new feasibility study which would look at options for changing the route, allowing it to follow more for the former railway line towards Tatworth and providing a safer passage for cyclists.
Adrian Moore, the council’s locality officer, said in his written report: “As the Stop Line Way continues southwards past Chard to the parish of Tatworth, it follows a rather complicated and vague route on paths and roads through industrial estates and residential areas, which is not very easy to follow due to poor signage.
“There is huge momentum behind getting people out into the fresh air and wider countryside. The government is targeting new funding to improve cycling opportunities in towns and out into the countryside.
“A refreshed feasibility study will help to facilitate decision making and development of new local government policies, help to secure local government funding and help key into new central government funding opportunities.”
The new study will identify concrete options for diverting the route, as well as looking at designating certain streets as “quiet lanes” and providing better surfacing on both new and existing cycle routes.
Councillor Martin Wale – who represents the Blackdown and Tatworth ward between Chard and Axminster – said completing the route would be a fitting tribute to Andrew Turpin, who represented the villages of Tatworth and Forton on the council for 36 years before losing his seat in 2019.
Mr Turpin regularly campaigned for better cycling and bus facilities within new housing developments in Somerset, as well as pushing for the re-opening of Chard Junction railway station, which closed in 1966.
Mr Wale said: “Our predecessor would be absolutely over the moon about this [report]. Andrew Turpin made this almost his life to try and get this completed.
“It’s completed all the way from Burnham to the edge of Chard, and it’s completed all the way from Seaton up to Axminster and the edge of south Somerset.
“If this report and this money and the survey they’re going to do gets it moving, I will say ‘well done – and not before time. Now is the time.
“The difficulty is the route down the old railway track at Tatworth. It’s a matter of land, so I think we’ll have to find more money to buy some land eventually. Let’s all support this and get it finished at long last.”
The council has been working with Tilia Homes (and its predecessor Kier Living South West) since 2020 to deliver improvements to the path, though there has been little tangible progress since construction on the Snowdon Grange homes began.
Councillor Sue Osborne – whose Windwhistle ward includes a section of the route between Chard and Ilminster – said the council needed to work proactively with landowners to find long-term solutions.
She said: “The biggest problem is landowners and getting them to agree. We virtually had an agreement with a landowner at Knowle St. Giles to actually create a diversion so people do not have to use those very, very steep steps up onto the road from the tracks.
“That came apart because, after covid, the landowner had so much abuse from walkers or people going all over the place and not sticking to the path, that they withdrew from that.
“The parish would quite like to have another go at that – they have some money, and I wonder whether that could be matched.”
Adrian Moore, the council’s locality officer, said he would be “very happy” to explore new options for this stretch of the route.
He added: “The Strawberry Line is very developed already, but the Wincanton to Bruton Rail to Trail project has also got momentum. This is about networking, to work with these other groups and bring the Stop Line Way to the fore.
“It’s about making sure all the facts and figures are there for the new policy-makers. It’s about having informed information, and a really thorough and open and honest engagement with landowners for the benefit of access to the rural environment.
“If there are situations where we can’t progress, we will work with Sustrans and other bodies to try and find alternative routes for the benefit of everybody.
“It’s a wonderful tourist route and local resource for everybody – for commuter routes, safe routes to schools and health and well-being.”
After around half an hour’s discussion, the committee voted unanimously to approve £12,000 towards the new study, with its findings expected to come back before the committee before the end of the year.
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