MORE than £3m will be set aside by housing developers to ensure more than 1,600 new homes are properly connected to Taunton town centre.

The Staplegrove urban extension site lies at the north-western edge of Somerset’s county town, between the A358 Pen Elm and Taunton Road.

Efforts to develop the site to deliver 1,628 new homes have been stymied for many years, with progress being delayed by viability issues and the ongoing phosphates crisis, the latter of which is holding up the delivery of around 12,000 homes across the county.

Following fresh negotiations with the developers, Somerset Council will demand that £3.2m be provided to deliver walking and cycling connections from the new homes, which will link up with the existing routes into the town centre.

What is planned at the Staplegrove urban extension?

Staplegrove is one of three urban extensions (or garden communities) which were identified more than a decade ago for delivering the bulk of Taunton’s new housing in the coming years?

The other two extensions are the Monkton Heathfield urban extension (where phase one has largely been built out) and the Comeytrowe urban extension, also known as Orchard Grove (where construction on the western neighbourhood is under way).

The Staplegrove site has been split into two elements: Staplegrove West, comprising 713 homes and employment land (being delivered by Bloor Homes South West) and Staplegrove East, comprising 915 homes and a primary school (put forward by Ptarmigan Staplegrove Ltd.)

The two sites will be connected by a spine road, which will run from a new T-junction on the A358 Staplegrove Road (east of the Silk Mills roundabout) to a new roundabout onto Taunton Road, where it turns into Kingston Road.

Why has it taken so long for anything to happen?

Taunton Deane Borough Council’s planning committee voted to approve planning applications for both elements of the Staplegrove site all the way back in October 2017.

However, the legal agreements between the council and the developers were not signed off before the Dutch N court ruling and the resulting legal advice from Natural England, which was issued in August 2020.

As a result of this legal advice, anyone seeking to build homes within the River Tone catchment area must provide additional mitigation to prevent any net increase in phosphates on the Somerset Levels and Moors.

In a bid to kick-start the Staplegrove West site, Somerset West and Taunton Council approved plans to create new wetlands in villages to the north of Taunton in September 2022.

However, these would only provide enough mitigation for the first phase of the western site – revised plans for which were approved in November 2022.

To unlock the remainder of the site, additional mitigation must be secured through upgrades of local waste waste treatment plants, further wetlands or the purchase of phosphate credits (whereby agricultural land in the same catchment is taken out of active use for a period of time).

Any phosphate mitigation must be in place before a single brick can be laid – as was recently agreed for the Up Mudford urban extension in Yeovil, where 765 homes will be delivered.

Wessex Water recently entered into an agreement with Somerset Council to implement “stretch permits” at its Langport, Taunton and Wells treatment plans, which will see additional phosphates removed on top of new standards set under the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 (known as LURA).

Wessex Water also indicated in May 2023 that it would need to upgrade “inadequate” sewers near the Staplegrove site before work could begin – though the company has not confirmed whether this has been carried out.

Is there any government funding to help speed things up?

The then-Conservative government indicated in January 2019 that it would provide up to £14.2m to unlock the Staplegrove site, provided through its housing infrastructure fund (HIF).

Originally, all of the £14.2m was expected to be spent on the spine road – but Somerset County Council threw a spanner in the works in January 2020 by asking that £9.6m of this grant should go towards the primary school.

Somerset West and Taunton Council responded in October 2020 by setting aside £4m for the school from the community infrastructure levy (CIL) – money which is sourced from other housing developments across the county and which can be pooled to deliver major infrastructure projects, such as schools, roads and doctors’ surgeries.

The HIF funding currently has to be spent in its entirety by December 31, 2024 – but Somerset Council is confident of securing an extension from Homes England (which manages these grants on the government’s behalf).

A spokesman said: “The HIF funding availability period was previously extended from March 31, 2024 until December 31, 2024.

“A further extension request has been made and is currently being considered by Homes England.

“The elements to be supported through the funding are still as set out in August 2023 – namely the spine road junction and moving overhead power lines underground within Staplegrove West, and acquisition of land rights for the primary school site and spine road within Staplegrove East.”

In addition, the council has included both parts of the Staplegrove site in a bid to the new Labour government’s new homes accelerator fund, which was announced on July 8.

If either a HIF extension cannot be secured or new grants are not forthcoming, it could lead to a full-blown viability assessment of the entire development.

A spokesman said: “The viability of the site would need to be tested through an assessment process.

“The Staplegrove site has been identified in the new homes accelerator programme submission as it is a major scheme that is yet to be delivered.

“A phosphate scheme for Staplegrove East is yet to receive planning permission and the education provision is yet to be fully secured.”

How will residents access local facilities?

Currently there are limited pavements or cycle lanes along the A358 Staplegrove Road itself – but you don’t have to go too far afield to find such infrastructure already in place.

There are shared pedestrian and cycle paths running south along the A3065 Silk Mills Lane, providing a connection to the eponymous park and ride facility.

From there, residents can proceed east through the beautiful Longrun Meadow, taking a variety of routes through the green lung to the town centre (via Goodlands Gardens) or towards Musgrove Park Hospital (via the Castle School and the A38 Wellington Road).

The Taunton local cycling and walking infrastructure plan (LCWIP), which was published by Somerset County Council in early-2022, includes aspirations for new walking and cycling links between the Staplegrove urban extension and Taunton town centre.

These links will form part of the proposed ‘green route’, which will eventually run from Norton Fitzwarren to the Nexus 25 business park planned near junction 25 of the M5.

Somerset West and Taunton Council subsequently identified several routes near the Staplegrove site which should be prioritised once planning permission had been granted, in line with the Taunton Garden Town vision.

Two of the routes singled out would provide connections from the Staplegrove site:

A spokesman for Somerset Council said: “The former district council undertook a project to better connect the three garden communities on the periphery of the town to key destinations including the town centre, railway station, schools and colleges and areas of employment.

“The resulting ‘Connecting our Garden Communities’ document sets out multiple detailed routes through which we can now seek financial contributions from developers.

“In the case of Staplegrove West, the revised proposal now includes £3.2m towards two of these routes, compared to just £75,000 secured via the original outline application in 2019.”

How have local campaigners reacted to this?

The Taunton Area Cycling Campaign (TACC) has been consulted throughout the planning process on new walking and cycling connections from the Staplegrove site.

TACC members met with senior planning officers on Friday (November 15) and have broadly welcomed the council’s approach.

TACC chairman Mike Ginger said: “We very much welcome the increased emphasis on active travel infrastructure and the agreement of £3.2m in phased contributions.

“This will enable the design and implementation of connecting routes from the urban extension to Taunton, including the Clifford Avenue route and the Bindon Road link.

“There is also the potential to secure match funding towards future funding bids (for example to the Department for Transport), and we look forward to working with the council and developers to make this a reality.”

Mr Ginger said it would be crucial that the links near the entrance to the Staplegrove West site were delivered very early in the construction process to encourage people to walk and cycle from the outset.

He cited delays in delivering similar infrastructure at the Orchard Grove site, with new cycle links between the town and the new primary school only recently being implemented.

He said: “It is vital that an effective link is available from the development to the town centre very early in the new development.

“The travel behaviour and mode choice of people moving into the new houses will be largely shaped by travel options at the outset. If only car-based options are available, car dependency can be guaranteed.

“With the Orchard Grove development, we are still awaiting an active travel link to the existing Taunton cycle network, around two years after the first houses were occupied.”

Mr Ginger said specific attention was needed around the Silk Mills roundabout, ensuring there was an attractive link for cyclists between the new homes and the existing multi-user path along the A3065 Silk Mills Road.

He said: “The active travel crossing arrangements from the spine road cycle/ pedestrian path to Silk Mills looks complicated, with a large time penalty, multiple crossings, narrow path and ‘sheep pens’.

“An excellent solution would be to provide a new cycle and pedestrian bridge utilising the A358 cutting, linking the spine road cycle/ pedestrian path to Silk Mills Lane.

“We do, however, recognise the possible funding constraints given the demands of the two routes being pursued.”

What happens next?

Bloor Homes South West applied in December 2023 to amend its plans for the Staplegrove West site – specifically requesting that the new school be pushed back until 575 homes had been delivered, citing falling birth rates in the local area.

The council’s planning committee west is expected to make a decision on these proposals at its final meeting before Christmas, which will be held in Taunton on December 17.

Plans for new wetlands south of Corkscrew Lane, to offset part of the Staplegrove East site, were submitted by Stantec in July – with a decision being expected in the spring of 2025.

A council spokesman said: “We are awaiting the submission of revised details for the development at Staplegrove East, which when received will be consulted upon prior to being decided by the planning committee west.”