Purpose

The Somer
Valley Links project covers travel between Midsomer Norton,
Westfield and Radstock and Bath/Bristol along the A37, A362 and
A367.  It aims to develop better
infrastructure to provide more options to travel sustainably
– whether walking, wheeling (using a wheelchair or mobility
scooter), cycling or using the bus.
The proposals aim to:
· 
Improve bus stops
· 
Extend bus lanes and improve junctions
· 
Create new cycling and walking routes
· 
Introduce mobility hubs – places where people can switch
between different types of transport easily.

Decision

(1) 
To delegate approval
to the Executive Director of Sustainable Communities, in
consultation with the s151 Officer, to formally accept grants from
the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority relating to this
scheme.
 
(2) 
To approve a capital
budget of £1.744m to develop the Full Business Case (FBC),
with final preliminary and detailed designs for the scheme; this
comprises £1.414m CRSTS grant and £330k match funding
from developer contributions.

Reasons for the decision

A
Climate Emergency was declared in March 2019 along with an
Ecological Emergency in July 2019. In response to this B&NES
has pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. Active Travel
(walking, wheeling and cycling) routes and enabling better travel
choices for residents, are part of a package of measures to
mitigate the climate crisis through the adoption of more
sustainable and healthy transport options.
 
The project will provide people with greater transport
choice, providing those able to use alternative modes to the car
with genuine choice in how they travel, making it easier and safer
to use low carbon modes. This will help B&NES to decarbonise its transport system, promoting the
move away from using cars to improve air quality and reduce carbon
emissions along the corridor, with public health, regeneration and
economic benefits.
 
The proposed interventions include mobility hubs at key
locations along the A37, A362, and A367 corridors where demand to
switch between modes is likely to be high; walking, wheeling, and
cycling route improvements; and bus stops, bus lanes and junction
improvements. These will be developed through the FBC stage
including final preliminary and detailed designs, full delivery and
construction costings and value for money assessment, as well as
further public consultation as designs are refined.

Alternative options considered

The Combined Authority to continue to lead the
project, with B&NES officer time limited to an advisory role
and Highways approval only.
 
The Council is the Highway Authority so the delivery of
highway interventions would be more complex in that delivery model.
Local community engagement will be enhanced through increased
cross-service liaison and interfaces with other council
projects.
 
To not proceed with the project beyond Outline Business
Case stage and return CRSTS grant funds to the Combined Authority
for distribution across other projects within the sub-region, or to
be returned to central government. This is a transformational
opportunity for the corridors in question, not proceeding would
prevent this scale of investment from taking place.