WATCHET Town Council will be asked by its environment and planning committee to commission an independent survey into how the town’s roads and traffic would be affected by a controversial scheme to build 136 houses on a greenfield site on Cleeve Hill.

At their meeting next Monday (June 14) councillors will be told that the committee challenges the traffic analysis report produced by the county highways authority, which they claim was taken at the wrong time of year, is not a true reflection of traffic numbers on the town roads, and as a result is flawed.

According to the committee, the scheme, which would involve re-routing the B3191 Coastal road, has ‘aroused extraordinary concern in the community’, and independent experts should be brought in to undertake a traffic analysis of the area.

Somerset West and Taunton Council has since been asked to commission such a survey but the request was turned down on the grounds that the county highways authority was the source of definitive advice to the planning authority, and would objectively and professionally assess the application.

In a brief to be sent to experts who offer to carry out the survey, the committee said: “In recent years as a result of new developments, traffic in Watchet has increased considerably. A recent survey by residents revealed approximately 2,000 cars and 170 delivery vans use the B3191 daily.

“This increase is causing its residents concern for two reasons. Firstly, the coastal road will collapse into the sea. Secondly, that West Street, a single track road on Cleeve Hill, is also the main pedestrian highway for the Coastal Path.

“The B3191 runs along an unstable cliff top over what is famously known as the Watchet Rift which is eroding unevenly. Somerset Highways has been monitoring the state of the cliff below the B3191 for approximately ten years. Measurements show the erosion rate is accelerating and in West Bay Trailer Park it has eroded by 20 metres in a year.

“The district council intends to approve a development of 136 houses offering accommodation for 600 people at the top of West Street with an estimated 276 cars.

“Somerset Highways favours the scheme because it temporarily resolves the issue of the B3191 and the eroding cliff. The developers would re-site the road through the Cleeve Hill estate.

“Our town is already regularly jammed for 30 minutes or more at Saxon Close, the Co-op or West Street. More houses increase the number of cars in the town, making it increasingly difficult and dangerous to drive or walk in Watchet. Each new house brings with it at least one, probably two cars. The Cleeve Hill Development, originally an optional development, is being considered now because the necessary realignment of the B3191 would be at the developer’s cost, thus saving Somerset Highways £28 million.

“Residents oppose the scheme because of the traffic issues and dangers to pedestrians. There have been numerous minor accidents when people have been knocked over by cars in the West Street pinch point.

“Houses in West Street have been hit and masonry damaged by lorries. The gas main to one house was smashed by a car causing the street to be evacuated. There is no safe pedestrian route from Cleeve Hill to the shops in Swain Street.”