BUILDING an eight-mile Wellington to Taunton commuter cycleway could start in just two-and-a-half years’ time, town councillors have been told.

Former councillor Charles Biscoe, membership secretary and treasurer of cycling club Wellington Wheelers, said January, 2025, was the target for putting ‘spades in the ground’.

However, he said the estimated cost of the project had risen to more than £10 million, or £2,000 per metre.

Mr Biscoe’s update for councillors at their June meeting came after complaints from Cllr John Thorne that there had not been any feedback since the council funded half the cost of a feasibility study in 2019.

He said the feasibility study by cycling charity Sustrans initially looked at a route along the north side of the A38 but it turned out to be ‘startingly naïve’ to have thought it could work.

Mr Biscoe said the project had been taken over by Citizens Somerset supported by Citizens UK and the focus switched to looking for a route on the south side of the A38.

He said on the north side there were 30 traffic access points between Chelston and Stonegallows, in Taunton, where conflict could arise between vehicles and cyclists.

They included the Rumwell Farm Shop, the former Rumwell Inn, and the Piccadilly filling station.

On the south side there were only about 10 traffic access points, although these included the new Comeytrowe roundabout, the West Buckland road junction at the World’s End public house, and the Willowbrook and Blackdown garden centres.

Mr Biscoe said an advantage on the south side was that Somerset County Council already owned wide grass verges and Sheppy’s Cider had offered access to its land.

There was still a need to plan routes at either end from Chelston into Wellington taking into account plans for a Lidl supermarket and a new train station, and from Stonegallows through Taunton to the railway station.

Mr Biscoe said there was potential for 600 cycle journeys to be created on a typical weekday.

Cllr Thorne said he remained ‘startingly naïve’ because he was convinced the north side of the A38 offered the best prospect for a cycle route.

He said most of the ‘traffic access points’ to which Mr Biscoe referred were residential driveways where there would be only an occasional car going in and out.

But on the south side there was the danger from the new Comeytrowe roundabout and the two busy garden centres as well as the fact it was intended cyclists would cross to the north side near the Piccadilly petrol station on one of the most dangerous stretches of the road.

Cllr Mike McGuffie queried the £10 million estimated costs and whether the money would be better spent on other initiatives to reduce carbon emissions and tackle climate change.

He said he believed that other measures such as planting trees offered more potential to help the climate than taking a few cars off the road.