COUNCILLORS have opposed a 320-home development in Wellington with the scheme being described as a “bridge too short.”

West of England Developments Ltd has submitted an outline planning application to Somerset Council hoping to get the go-ahead to build the development on land east of Wardleworth Way.

Cllr John Thorne said he would slightly amend the title of the famous Second World War movie A Bridge Too Far, by calling this proposed development as A Bridge Too Short.

He said that another bridge over the railway line would be needed to service the planned new development and that the existing bridge was not satisfactory.

Cllr Thorne said he took offence at the applicants stating in their planning documents that hopes for a northern distributor road in Wellington was “old hat and no longer needed.”

“Of course we need it,” he said. “It’s becoming more necessary now than ever to help take traffic away from the town centre.

“I understand that a new bridge over the railway line would cost millions of pounds, but we need some strategic thinking over this.

“I’m sure this will get approved by Somerset Council, but we must ensure that Section 106 money is allocated to the bridge.

“It’s already a pinch point at the Station Road bridge – there are already problems there. It’s going to be chaos with another 1,800 more vehicles going over that bridge and those figures come from the developers.

“There are lies, damned lies and transport assessments and that applies to this application.”

Cllr Thorne added: “The main objection is on highway grounds. The bridge is just not sufficient to take all that extra traffic.”

Cllr Andrew Govier said: “I’m extremely frustrated that this is coming to us now – the railway bridge we have at the moment is totally inadequate.”

Cllr Mike McGuffie added: “I don’t think this scheme is viable. The traffic is going to block up the two main roads into the town centre.”

Cllr Steve Mercer said Wellington did not have the services available to cater for such a development.

“I know that Somerset Council is under enormous pressure from the government to build houses, but this will put pressure on the town and this is just one site out of seven planned housing developments for Wellington,” he said. “We have to start making noises about this.”

Cllr Keith Wheatley said: “We need to tell the planners that this development is going to be a problem.”

Cllr Sean Pringle-Kosikowsky said: “This is going to be a recipe for disaster. The traffic is incredibly bad now and something needs to be done about it before we get more housing.

“We all know that the housing is coming, but we need some forward thinking.”

It was proposed by Cllr John Thorne and seconded by Cllr Andrew Govier that the town council objects to the application. A final decision will be made by Somerset Council.

One resident told the meeting: “If this goes ahead we’ll not get this land back again once it’s been built on.”