PLANS to carry out a dedicated feasibility study on the viability of an inner relief road in Williton have been shelved just weeks after the district council confirmed it would be commissioning an assessment.

West Somerset Council has decided not to press ahead with the study just yet after power giant EDF confirmed it would be undertaking a traffic review across the district as part of its bid to build a third nuclear power station at Hinkley Point.

The district council only revealed its intention to both commission and jointly finance a Williton inner relief road study at the beginning of August, but on Wednesday said that decision had been put on hold.

EDF has already held tentative talks with local authority chiefs into the possibility of providing a park-and-ride scheme either in Williton or Cannington to cope with the hundreds of workers needed during the construction phase of the project.

Ideas have also been mooted to use Watchet's East Quay development as a base for housing construction staff.

Stacey Beaumont, the council's media and public relations officer, said: "The Government is considering Hinkley Point as a site for possible future major development and in anticipation the developer, EDF Energy, will be carrying out a thorough review of traffic management in the district to measure any possible impacts.

"It is anticipated that this work will be completed in the next three months.

"It is only prudent for the council to postpone its proposed feasibility study to see if EDF Energy will be undertaking this work as it will avoid duplication and save taxpayers' money."

If constructed, an inner relief road would help to make Williton more pedestrian-friendly by reducing traffic in the village.

A proposed route for the road could be from the junction of North Street and Long Street to the far side of Mamsey House residential home on the A39 road to Minehead.

The bulk of the funding for the study would have come from the district council, although financial support was also on offer from local Somerset county councillor Anthony Trollope-Bellew and Williton Parish Council.