A358 Taunton to Southfields

Latest updates

• 08 August 2024

  Scheme Update

  This scheme has been paused in its current form, due to a number of affordability challenges. The Preferred Route Protection remains in place while the future of the scheme is being considered by government as part of a wider review. We are therefore unable to confirm the future of the scheme until this process has concluded.

• 07 December 2023

  Development Consent Order update

  National Highways with the support from Government will not be submitting the Development Consent Order application for the A358 Taunton to Southfields Dualling Scheme as planned this year and we are working with Government on the next steps.

  We will continue to work with impacted landowners and communities to resolve any outstanding queries they may have regarding the current scheme proposal.

• 06 December 2023

  Survey work update

  Our project team has wrapped up survey activity for the year. These surveys are an essential part of any major road project. They help us to understand the local area so we can look for ways to avoid or reduce negative effects on the local environment where possible. 

  Over the autumn, we have: 

  • completed our archaeological surveys. For this survey work, we dug trenches across different areas to look for any archeological finds to help our understanding of the area. We surveyed more than 750 trial trenches over nine months, working alongside South West Heritage Trust and Historic England.    
  • carried out our final bat surveys for 2022. For these surveys, we used special equipment, including bat detectors, to find out more about the bats’ habitats and what species live on the A358 route.
  • started looking at when we can close or cap (decommission) our long-term monitoring boreholes. These are holes in the ground that we have used to find out more about ground conditions, water levels and stability. Our work to decommission the first batch is well underway. We've started to decommission some of these and will continue with this next year. 

  We’re committed to protecting the natural environment that surrounds our roads. It’s been a lot of work to complete all this survey work, involving a lot of people. Thank you to everyone who’s helped us and cooperated with us while this work took place. Details of our surveys and how they have influenced proposals will be included in our Development Consent Order application. 

  

• 01 June 2023

  Project update and supplementary consultation feedback booklet available

  In his Written Ministerial Statement of 09 March 2023, the Secretary of State Mark Harper advised that Road Investment Strategy (RIS) 2 schemes will continue to progress. The A358 is one of the RIS2 schemes currently in its planning phase.

  National Highways will continue to work with HM Treasury officials and Ministers closely to fulfil the necessary governance arrangements. As we progress through the governance process, and expect to have a clearer indication on the Development Consent Order (DCO) application submission date.

  In the interim, we have published our ‘Supplementary consultation – summary of your feedback’ booklet.

  This booklet explains how we delivered the supplementary consultation, which ran from 24 May to 26 June 2022, and provides a summary of the feedback we received.

  Our DCO application will include a Consultation Report, which will summarise all the feedback and our response from both the 2021 and 2022 consultations.

  We remain confident that our proposed scheme presents the best solution to the ongoing issues along the A358 and as part of the wider A303/A358 corridor.

  We will continue to keep you informed of the project’s progress.

• 11 November 2022

  Upgrading the A358 - Somerset Stories

  The South West’s economy is under-performing compared to the rest of the UK. Local councils and business leaders agree that upgrading the rest of the A303/A358 corridor to dual carriageway would help improve the South West’s connections to neighbouring regions.

  Over the past few months, we’ve been releasing a series of videos about the benefits the upgraded A358 would bring. Our final video of the series - A358 Somerset stories - summarises views from previous videos. You’ll hear from a local hotel business, Peninsula Transport, Visit Somerset, Somerset Chamber of Commerce, the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership and a local Parish Council who outline how important the A358 upgrade is.  

  They talk about different benefits of the scheme, such as creating opportunities for local businesses and for regional growth, the importance of tourism and the ‘visitor economy’, and how reducing congestion will improve local air quality. 

  Did you know that one in every two jobs is reliant on tourism in some parts of Somerset? Or that Henlade has some of the worst air pollution in Somerset, caused by frequent congestion on the current A358. Or how many different types of businesses rely on the A358 to operate their businesses effectively?

  “The A358 is a key part of our transport infrastructure that if improved, would make a huge difference to the economic and health and wellbeing of every resident in Devon, Cornwall, Plymouth, Torbay and Somerset.” Andrea Davis, Peninsula Transport

  “This A358 scheme would give us so many benefits, it’s just unbelievable. We’d have better air quality, better quality of life. We need a bypass here now!”  Doug Lowe, a representative of Ruishton and Thornfalcon Parish Council.

  Watch the video to find out more about the benefits the A358 Taunton to Southfields Dualling Scheme will bring to the South West.

• 20 September 2021

  Ground investigation surveys

  As we develop our plans for the A358 upgrade scheme, some of our teams will be out and about around the route to complete essential surveys of the local area and environment. This includes ground investigation surveys which we use to show all sorts of information – such as buildings, roads, population numbers, height and flooding data. This information helps us to develop our plans for the scheme as carefully and accurately as possible.

  Our teams will also be working on important archaeological surveys. These help to locate historical sites or materials and allow us to make informed decisions about our proposals and the areas where we will look to carry out works in the future.

  Site compound

  As we complete these surveys, some of our teams will be working from a small site in the area. This site compound will be located away from any residential areas and we will make sure that any disruption is kept to a minimum.

  

• 27 November 2020

  Early works on the scheme’s preliminary design progressing

  We are pleased to be able to confirm that the A358 scheme has now been allocated to Taylor Woodrow following a competitive tender process through the Regional Delivery Partnerships framework.

  We are now in the process of finalising the scheme contract with Taylor Woodrow, which is scheduled to be awarded early next year. Taylor Woodrow are also progressing early works on the scheme’s preliminary design.

  The scheme is classed as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) under the Planning Act 2008. This means we’ll need to make an application for a special type of planning permission called a Development Consent Order (DCO) to gain authorisation to acquire the land and construct the scheme.

  Before we can submit our application for a DCO we will hold a statutory public consultation on the design where we invite comments on our proposals. We are still finalising the future programme for the scheme, but we anticipate holding this consultation in 2021.

  You can find out more about NSIPs on the Planning Inspectorate's website. Alternatively you can watch our short animation which explains the process in simple terms.

• 24 October 2019

  Preferred route announcement

  Since we announced our preferred route in June, we’ve been carrying out surveys to help inform the scheme design ahead of consultation. In September we held our second Community Liaison Forum and asked the members of the forum to give feedback on the route to help us develop the scheme design. We’ve grouped the feedback given under four headings:

  • local links and community severance
  • process, timeline and scope of works
  • rationale and impact of the route regarding housing development and economic growth with a focus on job creation
  • focus on the location and performance of proposed and existing junctions and access points

  You can see more detail about the feedback in the meeting note in the 'Consultations' folder under the project information section.

  We’ve also been busy creating an animation to explain the process we go through when designing a road scheme such as the A358. We hope this will help you understand the level of detail you can expect to see at each stage.