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A358 to Southfields Dualling scheme In this edition Newsletter – summer 2019

 Preferred Route Announcement  Community Liaison Forum update  Corridor update  Vehicle Safety Campaign

Welcome to the latest update from the A358 Taunton to Southfields Dualling scheme

Pink modified selected as preferred route We have now selected our preferred route for the A358 Taunton to Southfields Dualling scheme.

J25 Junction 25 will receive improvements to accommodate Toneway traffic from the new A358. Henlade Nexus 25 M5 Haydon This junction will provide A358 connections between Ash, Henlade and A378. Taunton A378 Ash Shoreditch Curry Mallet

The junction proposals for this section are still under Orchard Portman Thurlbear review. Further design work is needed to ensure junctions and crossing points are positioned in the

best place forBeercrocombe local connectivity.

Hatch Southfields The existing A358 between Beauchamp Roundabout will and receive minor Ashill will be retained as a improvements to local road. accommodate A358 Stewley the new A358 Key dual carriageway.

Alignment of the preferred route Kenny Ilton Ashill Rapps Existing junction

Proposed new junction Windmill Hill A303

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Hastings

Southfields Ancient woodland Broadway Roundabout Diagrammatic plan not to scale, junction arrangements are indicative © Crown copyright and database rights 2019 OS 100030649 Horton Ilminster Map of preferred route In 2018 we took three route options to consultation Benefits for the scheme – the Orange option, the Blue Benefits of the preferred route are that: option and the Pink option. The Orange option was the subject of consultation in 2017, during which „„ We’ll be substantially reducing traffic flows the local community and wider stakeholders called through Henlade from 33,500 without the for more options to be presented. scheme to 4,000 vehicles with the scheme in 2038 Since the last consultation, we’ve updated our „„ We’ll be providing a connection to the A378 cost estimates for the scheme. This has shown which will relieve traffic through Henlade that the potential cost of each option has risen. helping to improve the air quality We therefore revisited our options to see how „„ We’ll be improving the environment by they could be modified to balance the scheme’s reducing pollution from queuing traffic, objectives, cost and public feedback. particularly through Henlade and allow West and Taunton Council to potentially We’re very grateful to everyone who has helped us remove the Air Quality Management Area reach this point. The process has been detailed „„ We’ll make journeys safer by closing existing and time-consuming, but it has been necessary to road junctions and private accesses helping ensure we made the correct decision. us to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on the road network The preferred route „„ Your local journeys into Taunton will be made better by making your journey times The route we’ve selected will create a high more predictable and reducing the cost and quality dual carriageway link between Southfields inconvenience of unexpected delays you Roundabout on the A303 and the M5 at Taunton. currently experience It is a modified version of the route we called the „„ This route has the least impact on existing Pink option during the 2018 consultation, with the homes, public open space and the countryside junctions we labelled A and B removed. You can including avoiding the ancient woodlands at see the options shown at consultation here: Huish Copse and Stoke Wood https://highwaysengland.citizenspace.com/he/ „„ It will make it easier for you to grow your taunton-to-southfields-dualling-scheme/ businesses in and around Taunton by improving connectivity and providing a direct We carefully considered a number of factors link to the Nexus 25 employment site when selecting this option including affordability, „„ This scheme is the best use of public money capacity, safety, connectivity, resilience, as we can deliver a scheme closest to the environmental impact, consultation feedback budget allocated while still meeting the and economic benefits. We have also had to scheme objectives. take updated cost estimates for each option into account. You can find out more about the preferred route by reading the brochure we’ve To improve the affordability of the scheme we published along with a report on both stages used the previously published Pink option as a of consultation and a Scheme Assessment basis to develop a modified option, as this had Report setting out the results of our performed best across our previous assessments. assessments. This is available on our website Removing junctions A and B, as well as the along with details of pop-up style events dual carriageway link between them, allows us we’re holding: to deliver the right balance between scheme https://highwaysengland.co.uk/projects/a358- objectives and cost. It also responds to public taunton-to-southfields/ feedback about the impact that these junctions might have on homes, public open space and the countryside. What happens next? Selecting a preferred route is important because (NSIP) – which means we need to apply for a it allows us to safeguard the land required for Development Consent Order (DCO) to build it. the scheme from other development and give Before we carry out this consultation, we’ll engage certainty to the local community. We’ll now with local authorities, technical stakeholders undertake further work to look more closely at and representatives of the local community to the local area, completing further surveys and understand the best way to consult at this stage. investigations to allow us to design the scheme in greater detail. You can find out more about the DCO process at the Planning Inspectorate’s website: We will then hold a further consultation on our https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk detailed proposals. This will be a statutory consultation, required by the Planning Act 2008. The timeline below shows what will happen at This is because the scheme is classified as each stage of the scheme. a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project

Options Development Construction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Statutory Construction Option Option Preliminary Construction procedures commissioning Close out identi cation selection design and powers preparation and handover

Statutory Examination community by consultation Planning Options for and Inspectorate Road public consultation application and opened Jan - Feb 2018 for decision by development Secretary of consent State Project Preferred route Start main Close out initiated announcement construction work summer 2019

Community Liaison Forum established We have established a Community Liaison Forum Now that we’ve selected a preferred option for (CLF) to allow us to continue to engage with the the scheme, we’ll convene another meeting of the community outside of formal consultation periods. forum to present the route and our next steps to The CLF will help us to share timely and relevant community groups. information as well as discuss updates with representatives of the local community.

We were pleased to welcome representatives from more than 20 groups to the first meeting of the forum in Taunton on Tuesday 26 February 2019. You can find out more about what was discussed at the forum in the meeting notes, available from our website: https://highwaysengland.co.uk/ projects/a358-taunton-to-southfields/ Members of the A358 Taunton to Southfields Dualling Scheme Project team with Mike O’Dowd Jones from , pictured right, who also presented at the first meeting of the CLF. Highways England Vehicle Safety Campaign Every year Highways England traffic officers You wouldn’t expect a pilot to take off without deal with more than 85,000 breakdowns on the running through checks, so why shouldn’t you roads they patrol. In the last two years, more take the same approach for an important than 40 per cent of these breakdowns were journey by road? caused by vehicles running out of fuel, poor tyre maintenance, power loss and engine trouble. To find out more information about vehicle checks please visit: https://www.think.gov.uk/campaign/ Fewer breakdowns on the strategic road network vehicle-safety-checks/ also means fewer incidents. This then keeps traffic flowing. And cutting congestion is good for the economy.

„„ In 2015, there were 56 killed or seriously injured (KSIs) incidents linked to driving without checking the vehicle was roadworthy, falling to 39 in 2017 after three editions of this campaign.

„„ Every time someone runs out of fuel the breakdown causes delays to themselves and other road users. Last year an average 22 people a day ran out of fuel on our network.

„„ The challenge we have is to reframe the issue so that drivers are motivated to check their vehicle and provide a trigger for when to perform the check.

Highways England recommend carrying out a few quick and easy checks to ensure you and your vehicle are safely equipped to drive. Having a roadworthy vehicle can also save you time and money in the future. A500 M1 Stoke-on-Trent A38 Nottingham A52 Derby A50 A453 A483 A5 A38 A42 A46 Norwich M54 A47 A47 A458 A5 M42 Leicester M6 Toll A1 A12 M6 M69 Peterborough M6 Birmingham A5 A1(M) A11 A14 M5 M42 Coventry

A14 A49 A428 Cambridge Worcester A5 A46 A421 A11 Ipswich A1 M40 A14 A12 M50 A43 Milton Keynes A120 A40 M1 A1(M) A120 A5 A417 A40 Gloucester Oxford M11 M25 M5 A34 M40 A12 M48 A419 M4 Swindon Southend-on-Sea Corridor update M4 A404 A13 The A358 Taunton to SouthfieldsM49 scheme is just Creating a high quality dual carriagewayM4 link Reading one of our three planned projects designed to between the south east and south west. London Bristol M32 improve the A303/A358 corridor. M4 M2 A249 A34 A36 M26 A2 A303 M5 Stonehenge M3 M25 Winterbourne Stoke M20 Amesbury M23 3 A3 Crawley Berwick Down A20 Taunton Sparkford A21 Podimore A303 A36 Folkestone 2 Taunton A358 A259 Illchester A23 1 A31 South elds A3(M) A27 A27 A259 Exeter Brighton A30 A30 A35 Diagrammatic map not to scale © Crown copyright and database rights 2019 OS 100030649

Here is a summary of what’s happening A303 Stonehenge – Amesbury to Berwick with each of the other two schemes Down scheme: Torquayat present: The A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down scheme is Plymouth A38 TorquayA303 Sparkford to Ilchester Dualling scheme: in the middle of the planning application process. A30 Back in July 2018 we submitted our application for As a nationally significant infrastructure project a Development Consent Order (DCO) which was we have applied for a Development Consent accepted for examination in August. Inspectors Order, which was accepted for examination in were appointed to examine our application in November 2018. More details can be found on the October and the examination itself started in Planning Inspectorate’s website: December. The examination process takes up to https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/ 6 months and was completed on 12 June. You projects/south-west/a303-stonehenge/ can find out what happens next on their website: https://highwaysengland.co.uk/projects/a303- Further information sparkford-to-ilchester/ For further information on the scheme:

You can find out more about the planning [email protected] process and view our application, including the consultation report, on the Planning www.highwaysengland.co.uk/Taunton-to-Southfields Inspectorate’s website: https://infrastructure. 0300 123 5000 planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/south-west/ a303-sparkford-to-ilchester-dualling/

If you need help accessing this or any other Highways England information, please call 0300 123 5000 and we will help you. BRS19_0113