NEARLY 100 people crowded into Wellington Scout Hall for the first public presentation of the town’s Grand Western Greenway (GWG) project.

The ambitious project is intended to create a traffic-free route for walkers, cyclists, and wheelers between Wellington and Taunton, by-passing the dangers of the A38.

Local MP Gideon Amos, who opened the meeting, said: “A turnout like this reminds me what a great privilege it is to represent this community in Parliament.

“My role is to champion this project, add my weight as your MP to it, and do whatever I can to move it forward.

“There is a real commitment from the two town councils and Somerset Council for this.

“Your support today is about coming together to make things happen.”

Keynote speaker John Grimshaw, a civil engineer who has pioneered the creation of greenways across the UK, referred to the ongoing stage-by-stage construction of the Strawberry Line circular route to the south of the Mendip Hills.

Mr Grimshaw said: “Your greenway will not get built all at once and will need input from landowners, councils, and volunteers, but it will happen.”

A multi-media presentation from GWG chairman Charles Biscoe showed the audience a proposed route divided into several phases over time.

Mr Biscoe said: “Phase one at the Wellington end is very much linked to the delivery of the new station and a housing development at Tonedale.

“These will create paths that can become the greenway as far as Nynehead Road.

“At the Taunton end, a combination of an existing cycle path beside Trenchard Way and then over Frieze Hill will link with a service road to the Norton Fitzwarren sewage works and take us under Silk Mills Road near the railway bridge.”

Wellington town Cllr Keith Wheatley, who chaired the meeting, highlighted from an economic development perspective the fact that the intermediate rural section of the greenway will pass close to both the White Horse Inn, in Bradford on Tone, and the Allerford Inn, near Norton Fitzwarren.

Cllr Wheatley said: “Country pubs are having a hard time at the moment and all the evidence shows that having a primary leisure route passing nearby can give a business a huge boost.”

Cllr Dave Mansell, a member of Somerset Council’s active travel working party, told the meeting that the greenway had a ‘very high priority’ among the schemes being considered across the county.

Cllr Mansell said: “Everybody knows that money is very tight at the moment, but Somerset has recently had almost £10 million from Whitehall for active travel schemes and we need to fight for our share.”

A panel comprising Mr Grimshaw, On Your Bike manager Tracey Mock, Cllr Wheatley, and Cllr Mansell took many questions from the audience which were unanimously supportive, with people inevitably keen to know a possible start date.

Mr Biscoe said: “We have some funding for feasibility and technical studies that must be done first, but I think we could hope for early stage work in 2028.”