£19.3m bid to regenerate three Somerset communities praised by government officials

Efforts to regenerate three separate parts of Somerset have been praised by government officials following a failed bid for significant funding.

Mendip District Council and Sedgemoor District Council jointly submitted a bid to the government’s levelling up fund in mid-2022, seeking nearly £19.3m for regeneration schemes in Cheddar, Highbridge and Shepton Mallet. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) announced in mid-January that this bid (along with two others put forward in Somerset) had unfortunately been unsuccessful.

The government has now provided full feedback on the bid, enabling any future funding request to stand a greater chance of success. The bid sought a total of £19,291,460, divided between the three settlements (though exactly how much each community would have got has not been divulged).

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In Cheddar, four projects were identified to improve the fortunes of the village and make it more accessible for visitors – namely:

• Enhancing the Tweentown road network and improving the Cliff Street car park
• Enhancing the Cheddar Gorge and Caves car park
• Revamping the area around the former Cox’s Mill Hotel
• Improving Gough’s Cave and the surrounding land

In Highbridge, five projects were identified to boost the local area – namely:

• Revamping the area around Bank Street and the B3139 Market Street
• Improvements to Highbridge and Burnham railway station
• Enhanced cycle links to and from Apex Park
• Creating a better community hall at Trowbridge Close
• Improving flood defences on the River Brue

In Shepton Mallet, improvements were identified in five areas of the town centre – namely:

• Improvements to the ‘southern gateway’ – comprising an improved bus interchange on Station Road, an active travel hub, improved public realm around the Cenotaph, a new priority junction with improved pedestrian crossings and a better connection with Park Road and Collett Park
• Enhancing the High Street with new seating, planting and signposts, with on-street and disabled parking being retained
• Safely improvements at the junction of High Street and the A361 Commercial Road, with improved pedestrian crossing and new loading bays
• De-cluttering the Upper High Street/ Town Road area, with improved enforcement to prevent illegal parking
• Improvements to the ‘northern gateway – comprising a new tabletop crossing for improved pedestrian safety, new “speed cushions” to slow traffic approaching the junction, and additional cycle parking and benches

In their official feedback on the bid – obtained under the Freedom of Information Act – DLUHC officials said the “relatively strong” bid would “deliver a tangible positive impact” on the three communities. The proposed improvements. they said, would “catalyse productivity, inward investment, job creation and revenue growth, boosting civic pride in the most deprived areas of the constituency”.

Officials said the bid was responsive to “existing market failure” (i.e. instances where the commercial sector had not delivered regeneration under its own steam), and would “generate growth in the visitor economy”, especially with regards to the Cheddar proposals (which was dubbed ‘Waves to Caves’). However, the bid would have benefited from “more consideration of any alternative options”, as well as a “more coherent economic case” and more details on how easily the projects would be delivered.

The feedback said that the intended impacts of the regeneration schemes “did not always follow a logical chain” – particularly when it came to plans to decrease car levels in the centres of the three settlements. Wells MP James Heappey did not support the bid, describing the proposals as “unimaginative” and claiming most people would continue to visit the three settlements by car.

The DLUHC officers added: “The commercial sections of the bid would have benefited from a more rounded view of the routes to market and fuller consideration of the wider policy implications.” Bids for the third round of the levelling up fund are expected to be submitted before the end of the year.

Somerset Council has not confirmed whether it intends to submit a bid, or whether any of the previously identified schemes will form part of any such bid.