Villagers raise safety concerns over housing plan

Children in a village may be "in serious danger" after highways officers "stayed silent" over road safety concerns, according to campaigners.

A site on the A371 near Westbury-sub-Mendip's church has been earmarked for a new housing development.

Sue Isherwood, chair of the parish council, told Somerset Council last month there had been a "lack of engagement" between highways officers and residents, who have expressed road safety concerns.

Somerset Council said it would be happy to arrange a meeting to resolve these issues, but this may not happen until after formal plans have been submitted.

The parish council said the highways team were not working proactively with the landowner and developer, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reports.

The Mendip Local Plan Part II includes the land south of Roughmoor Lane as an allocated housing site, which could see 40 homes built.

The plan notes that "traffic generation will need to be carefully considered", noting the issues with achieving a safe access from the site onto the A371 and calling for "further investigation" into this matter.

Chris Langdon, leading the creation of the Westbury-sub-Mendip Neighbourhood Plan, claimed at the full council that his and the parish council's pleas regarding the A371 had fallen on deaf ears.

"Lives of young children are in serious danger and your highways team has stayed silent on a recent request to meet their senior team," he said.

"Can we please have a meeting within the first two weeks of January or sooner with a senior manager from both highways and planning to discuss our request in full, and find the best safe crossing solution which can then be implemented?"

Councillor Richard Wilkins said the highways team were aware of the concerns and had looked at "several different scenarios" to improve connectivity.

"We will continue to work with the applicant through the planning process to see if pedestrians can safely access facilities from Roughmoor Lane," he said.

"We are happy to meet with the parish council, but it may be better to wait until a planning application has been submitted."

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