Wellington’s traffic nightmare will be debated at Westminster next week. Jeremy Browne MP will raise the town’s problems in Parliamet on Tuesday and also press for a new train station.
“I am very pleased to have this opportunity to raise Wellington’s transport infrastructure needs in the House of Commons. I will make two key points,” said Browne, who spoke passionately to the Wellington Business Association on these issues last month.
“First, the traffic congestion in Wellington is getting worse. The junction of Longforth Road and the High Street, next to Waitrose, is a complete bottleneck at peak times. With all of the new house building it is only going to become even more intolerable.
“The new Longforth Farm development missed an ideal opportunity to give Wellington the Northern Relief Road that the town desperately needs. Instead the developers were allowed to build a road to nowhere.
“But we still need a new road. I am open-minded about the options. It would be easiest and cheapest to put a link through into Brendon Road outside the main Relyon entrance. It would be better to take it over the railway line with a new bridge and bring it out on Wardleworth Way or possibly further along Station Road towards Milverton.
“Second, Wellington residents have been wanting a new train station for decades. It is ridiculous that the train to London sometimes stops at Castle Cary and Pewsey but there is no station in Wellington despite the train line running right through the town. It is very impractical for Wellington residents to travel to Taunton or Tiverton Parkway to catch a train, especially if they are dependent on public transport to get to the station.
“These two projects are priorities for transport infrastructure investment in Somerset and I am looking forward to raising them in Parliament and hearing the official response from the Government Transport Minister.”