Parish Council Update

Due to the local elections and purdah, there has not been any engagement with National Highways since the last magazine edition. However there has been some engagement with Somerset County Council to get them to express more publicly their concerns about aspects of the scheme. Eventually we got their information department to release the response to the historical 2018 consultation. This highlights the problems with local access to the A358, environment and noise impacts, urging improvements at Southfields to address more congestion (increasing journey times along the A303!) and lack of east-west connections encouraging use of inappropriate local roads of a low standard (to quote just a few paragraphs of a 20-page document). Curiously although this response called for continued engagement with the local authority and communities going forward for the chosen scheme, the council claims there were no other meetings with National Highways about the local road impact until March of this year, a period of 4 years. We hope the change in council administration may help our case. In any event, we will keep you updated regarding any developments on the A358.

The survey for the Neighbourhood Plan is now launched and you can participate online by clicking here for further information and the survey link. Paper copies will be distributed to all households in the parish in the next week or so. I would encourage everyone to complete the survey

Christine Scott

Chair, Hatch Beauchamp Parish Council