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00:00A very good, wet morning to you, people of Somerset. It's Daniel Mumby here, your local
00:07democracy reporter. You join me on a wet and pretty miserable September Saturday. I am
00:13standing at the eastern edge, the current eastern edge, of the Orchard Grove development
00:18side in Taunton. We're in the parish of Comitro, and I am standing on Lype Hill Lane at the
00:26what will be the western end of the Spine Road that will run all the way from those
00:30new houses that you can see just looming over the distance, crossing this narrow lane which
00:34has now been restricted to pedestrians and cyclists from this way down, and off into
00:39the eastern neighbourhood of this site, which will eventually have 2,000 homes, along with
00:44a primary school and various commercial spaces. But I'm not here to talk about Orchard Grove
00:49specifically in terms of what's going on within the site. What we're going to do for the next
00:5430 minutes or so, we've got quite a distance to cover today, and I'm hoping these showers
00:57will be intermittent rather than persistent, is we're going to walk from here all the way
01:02into Taunton Town Centre, ending up on North Street in around half an hour, using the existing
01:08pedestrian and cycling routes. We're going to be talking about how easy it is to do this
01:12at the moment, and looking at the possible improvements that will be implemented as this
01:17huge development on Taunton's western fringe starts to slowly take shape. As per usual
01:23with these live streams, if you have any comments or questions, do drop them in, and I'll get
01:27to as many of them in the moment as possible. Like I say, it is very wet, so I apologise
01:32in advance if we get water on the lens at any point, or if the sound starts going. I've
01:38equipped myself with waterproof as best as I can, but this iPhone, unlike, say, a GoPro,
01:43does not have a protective case, so please do bear with me if things start going wrong.
01:49So if you're watching this and you are not familiar with Somerset's county town, you've
01:53never visited the Orchard Grove site, let me give you a little bit of background before
01:57we get on to the main stage of our journey. So, there are three sites on the edge of Taunton
02:05which have been allocated as urban extensions, that is, areas where the town will be extended
02:10out to provide the bulk of the new housing for Taunton over a period of several decades,
02:16and they are all at various stages of delivery. The one that we're exploring at the moment,
02:21the Comitro Urban Extension, has now been rechristened Orchard Grove. That will deliver
02:252,000 homes, commercial space, a park and bus facility, allowing you to pick up public
02:32transport onto the A38 Wellington Road. It will have a spine road running all the way
02:37from the A38 across Lype Hill Lane, which we've just passed, or come up, I should say,
02:44and eventually linking up with Honiton Road in Shrull, a new primary school which is due
02:48to open, if it hasn't already, very, very shortly, and various other bits and pieces
02:54including green spaces and walking and cycling routes. The other two are the Moncton Heathfield
03:01Urban Extension, of which Phase 1 is largely built out, and we're expecting a decision
03:06on Phase 2 later in this year, probably before Christmas, and the third one is the Staple
03:12Grove Urban Extension, which is at a much earlier phase. That's been held up on the
03:18north-western edge of Taunton by the ongoing phosphates crisis. You may have seen the reports
03:24that we did this week about the 12,000 homes across Somerset which are still held up by
03:30phosphates and the, shall we say, lively differences of opinion among Somerset councillors as to
03:36whether that should be solved through phosphate credits, which usually involve taking farmland
03:42out of active use, or whether it should be left to the water companies to upgrade all
03:48of these wastewater treatment plants to stop phosphates getting onto the levels of moors
03:52and polluting our rivers. Like I say, it's an ongoing issue, and there are strong opinions
03:58on both sides. So we're focusing on Orchard Grove today. We've come down Comitro Lane,
04:03we're now turning onto Lloyd Close, and that is because we are going to be picking up this
04:10walking and cycle route, which actually will lead us pretty much continuously into the
04:17town centre. You saw at the start of our stream that there was a decent link coming out of
04:24Orchard Grove, which is currently under construction, that will link up with Lightpill Lane as a
04:28safe crossing, and cyclists will be able to go through these reasonably quiet residential
04:35streets and take advantage of these routes that are already in place. As you can see from what
04:42we're looking at so far, it's pretty good condition in terms of the surface. It's demarcated with
04:47cyclists on the left and pedestrians on the right. Obviously it's a very wet and somewhat
04:53breezy day, so I'm not expecting legions of people to be out on two wheels, but it's good to know
05:00that this infrastructure is here. One of the things that I want to talk about with this live
05:06stream is to do with the Taunton Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan, or LCWIP. We've
05:14talked about it, I think, on at least a couple of other occasions. Just juggling my other phone in
05:20my hand, and I'll give you a bit of background on that just as we pass over Queensway. But
05:25essentially, a plan was put together, this is going back to late October 2021 or early 2022,
05:34where Somerset County Council, as it then was, looked at the walking and cycling networks within
05:43our beloved county town, and identified a number of areas which could be improved, connecting up
05:49missing links, providing new routes through communities, and crucially for our purposes
05:54today, providing connections to new housing that was coming on stream pretty quickly. Obviously we
06:01know that more homes need to be built in Somerset, it's very hard for young people to get on the
06:06housing ladder, myself included. We also know that under the new Labour government, planning laws are
06:13going to be changed drastically to make it easier to build houses, so questions about active travel
06:18and infrastructure like this are very, very appropriate. So the Local Cycling and Walking
06:25Infrastructure Plan, or LCWIP as I'll just refer to it for brevity, one of the things that it
06:31identified was something called the Blue Route, which is an aspirational route, which when
06:38completed, will stretch all the way from Orchard Grove, where we started our stream today, through
06:46the town centre, and up to Moncton Heathfield. It's one of several routes designed to snake right
06:53across the town, to provide links between new and existing housing with the town centre, and key
07:01facilities such as Musgrove Park Hospital, where we'll be heading in a moment, and also the Nexus
07:0825 Business Park, which we hope will eventually be built just on the other side of the M5. The
07:14Blue Route, part of which is what we're walking on at the moment, differs from some of the other
07:21ones in the plan, like the Red Route, which runs through Vivery Park, in that it's largely in place.
07:26There's just a few missing links which could be delivered, and what I'll do now is rattle off
07:32very quickly a list of those within the plan that they thought would be necessary to achieve those
07:39kinds of upgrades, as we continue along this quiet and pretty smooth path. If you have any,
07:47just join me here on Somerset Live. It's Daniel Munby, your local democracy reporter. We're
07:53walking today from Orchard Grove, on the western edge of Taunton, where 2,000 new homes are currently
07:58being built, of which around, I think, 200 to 300 have been finished. I don't know how many of those
08:03are occupied, and we're walking along the aspirational Blue Route within the Local Cycling
08:09and Walking Infrastructure Plan, showing you what's in place already, and talking about the missing
08:15links that may still need to be delivered. Now, when the plan was originally put together,
08:22back in 2021, all of the missing links that would need to be delivered, whether it's laying
08:30new stretches of tarmac, or just upgrading what we already have, was budgeted as costing anywhere
08:35between £600,000 and £1.9 million. Obviously, that's 2022 prices, before the war in Ukraine
08:42ramped up, before the Liz Truss budget, so it's fair to say that amount may have increased
08:49drastically since then, and as you'll know from our coverage of Somerset Council's finances,
08:55although they have had some specific grants for active travel projects, such as the
09:01Linnum Way, sorry, Linnum Road link up in Bridgewater, which will be finished later this year,
09:06and the £1.5 million which will be spent at Carrampton up in West Somerset,
09:13they're not exactly rolling in money at the moment. There is some scope, of course, for
09:19levering money in from housing developments, and we'll be keeping a close eye on that. We did
09:27approach the Orchard Grove Consortium, which includes Taylor Wimpey and Live West,
09:35looking at the commitments that they had made under the Section 106 agreement when Orchard
09:40Grove first got permission. They did not respond for comment ahead of this stream,
09:47but we will bring you any statement they do produce when we file an article on this next
09:53week, so just bear with us a little bit. So as we head through the Galmington area,
09:59along the Galmington Stream, whose quality was a real bone of contention when Orchard Grove
10:04was getting off the ground, here are a few of the upgrades which Somerset Council believes
10:10will be necessary to finish this vital blue route between these 2,000 new homes and the
10:15town centre. They want to upgrade protected cycle track to provide enough space for people
10:23walking on Galmington Road, redesign the junction of Parkfield Walk and Hovland Lane, that's the
10:29route that goes up past the hospital where we're a few minutes away from, with the removal of
10:34fencing on Hovland Crescent, redesign the junction of Parkfield Drive and Manor Road to enable
10:41cycling between the hospital and Manor Road heading east to west, continue the Galmington
10:46Road path onto Parkfield Road with lighting being installed, possibly solar-powered, reconfigure
10:54the Tesco lights on the 838 with cycle lane improvements which may require further assessment,
11:00have a priority cycling and pedestrian crossing at the junction of Parkfield Road and Corporation
11:06Street into the Rubbarton Gyratory and introduce new wayfinding, that's signs and logos like the
11:13blue circles that you see along this route, to ensure that people know where they're going.
11:19So that's the wish list as it were which, like I say, Somerset County Council, before it was
11:25abolished, said would cost up to £1.9 million to put all of that in place, but we reckon the
11:33price of that will have gone up quite significantly since they made that plan first
11:38more than a couple of years ago. However, I think we should have cause for optimism because
11:43unlike, for instance, the creation of new routes from scratch including the
11:52the improvements that were made from Minehead to Dunster a couple of years ago now, or certainly
11:58at least a year ago that was finished, this is not a case of building new paths from scratch,
12:04it's a case of tinkering and refining what's actually there which is much less labour-intensive.
12:10Good morning.
12:14Always nice to see people and enjoying these networks whatever the weather. I'm slightly
12:19regretting having a jacket that doesn't have a hood but there's not much hair left on my head
12:24to get wet so I'll just persevere. If you've only just joined me, and thank you to everyone who's
12:30stuck around so far, especially from the start, it's Daniel Mumby, your local democracy reporter,
12:35out in Taunton, Somerset's county town. Some bitter sweetness at the fact that our beloved
12:43cricket club came so close to winning the county championship this year but Surrey have just put
12:48them to the post for their third title in a row but better luck next year. Anyway, we're not
12:55heading near the cricket club today so those maudlin feelings won't be too prominent but we
13:00will be heading into the town centre finishing up our journey in around 15-20 minutes depending
13:06how brisk we go and how many puddles we encounter and I hope this is demonstrating so far
13:11that once you get out of the Orchard Grove site, once that section of Egremont Road, the spine road
13:19that runs from the A38, has been finished up to that junction with Lightpill Lane, it's actually
13:26relatively straightforward to pick up this route and crossing a number of residential streets which
13:32okay, it's the weekend, is it necessarily the best judge of how busy it is but there are numerous
13:40safe crossings already in place and the path is consistently wide enough to let pedestrians,
13:48including the numerous dog walkers that we've seen, pass safely alongside any cyclists or of
13:55course people in wheelchairs and mobility scooters because active travel routes are not just about
14:00walking and cycling, they are also about wheeling and one of the great advantages of course with
14:08Taunton is that it's relatively flat. It may create problems with surface water flooding or
14:15flooding in general but the upside is that it is relatively easy to get around from one part
14:21to another without having to negotiate several steep hills in the process. Now I'm just going
14:27to pause here, I'm pretty sure that we need to bend round in this direction but I'm just going
14:32to double check. Yes, that is correct. We are now heading out over the Galmington Stream
14:40and coming onto Galmington Road itself and we will use this very convenient crossing right in front of us.
14:48Now as with all of the live streams that we do over these weekends and we do really appreciate
14:54your company and your feedback on these, these are all public rights of way or permissive paths
15:01that you can explore to your heart's content. Excellent timing with the signals coupled with
15:07some very generous motorists who always give a sufficient wiggle room.
15:17Hopefully this will inspire you, especially if you live on the Orchard Grove Estate and please
15:22do drop us a comment if you are living there at the moment. Hopefully this will inspire you in
15:27the future to get out via Lightpill Lane and have a look at this route for yourself.
15:33It's not exactly the shortest route to the town centre in terms of compared to jumping in your car
15:39and braving it out on the A38 but what you can say is it's a whole less congested than doing it that
15:44way and what this investment in active travel is designed to do, it's not just about pandering to
15:51cyclists or attacking people for using cars, vans or lorries, it's about creating a situation where
16:02the infrastructure is there so people who can and want to use the cycle lanes can, they can do so
16:08safely without harassment or fear of being knocked down by a vehicle and by taking those cyclists and
16:15those pedestrians away from the main arterial roads, including the A38, that frees up more
16:21space for those of us who need to drive whether it's for work or because we're not so able-bodied.
16:28I'm reminded of the sequence early on in Richard Attenborough's Gandhi where a young Daniel Day-Lewis
16:37blocks the path of Ben Kingsley as he's walking down the street in South Africa, this is before he
16:43goes over to India and Ben Kingsley walks past him and says I think you'll find there's room
16:49for us all and I think that's a very healthy attitude to have. If you've never seen Gandhi
16:55it's probably worth a watch, it is quite long and not Richard Attenborough's finest work but
17:01well worth a watch. So we're now bending round off Galmington Road onto Hovland Crescent
17:08and we're going to be keeping a close eye out for the entrance to Hovland Lane which will lead us
17:15up on the next significant part of our journey to the east of Musgrove Park Hospital and in fact
17:22you can just see the multi-storey looming in the distance as we bend around this road,
17:28plenty of single yellow lines of course just to make sure that everyone's parking
17:35as they should be.
17:39And again I'm just going to pause, you may have seen our our coverage of the
17:47repairs that have been undertaken on Hovland Lane by Wessex Water which were due to finish yesterday
17:55but as far as I'm aware they have been completed so we should be able to get past Musgrove unimpeded
18:03but it's always worth just having a double check, making sure that that is the case.
18:12Again I'm just making sure, I believe that is the diversion towards the Blue Fish Bar so we
18:19actually need to backtrack a little bit and go a little further up Hovland Lane.
18:26I've lived in Somerset now for the best part of 10 years,
18:29none of them in Taunton I hasten to add so forgive me if my geography occasionally eludes me
18:35but it's a very little time that we've squandered with that and I can laugh at myself at least most
18:43of the time when I make a mistake. Now like I say we are awaiting a statement from the Orchard Grove
18:50Consortium about the improvements that they will make to the walking and cycling network
18:57to provide those connections to Taunton town centre and build up the Blue Route
19:03including any funding that they may put aside to help with the council's maintenance programme
19:07to ensure routes like this stay in good condition. We're now on the route leading up towards Musgrove
19:12and okay there's quite a few more leaves around than it could do with a lick of paint but it's
19:16still in reasonable nick. I'd have no issue getting past here on a bike and I say that
19:23here on a bike and I say that as someone who hasn't ridden a bicycle in many many years.
19:30We also did approach Somerset council for a statement on this matter and again
19:36they did not respond by the time we went to broadcast here however we are expecting a
19:43statement from them within the next 72 hours or so so as and when we do run an article on the matter
19:49next week we will include that statement in full. Of course one of the big issues with cycle
19:54infrastructure like this or active travel in general is it's difficult enough getting
20:00the capital investment, the grants from government, the contributions from developers
20:05to actually build the routes but it's a whole other pot of money and a whole different
20:10kettle of fish to maintain them so that once they're there they stay in a usable condition
20:19for as long as possible. You can just see there we're skirting past Musgrove
20:25and work, if it's not already begun, will start very soon on the second multi-storey
20:33for Musgrove which will also be operated by Kew Park, same as the company that currently does it
20:40and our various Harris fencing up here. I'm not sure how much of that is the hospital and how
20:44much is is Wessex Water still hanging around but I suspect it's mostly hospital by this stage
20:52and of course it wasn't so long ago that we were walking along part of this route in the opposite
20:57direction talking about improvements that could be made to get to the hospital from the other
21:05side of town with the improvements to the park and ride sites at Gateway and Silk Mills.
21:11The work going on with the cycle routes around what was the Somerset College for Art and Technology
21:20and now is part of Bridgewater and Taunton College, correct me if I'm mistaken on that front,
21:24and of course the second car park that we just mentioned. Now we are in close proximity to the
21:31hospital here so obviously we're going to be quite sensitive in terms of how loud we're talking and
21:37not pointing the camera at any potentially vulnerable patients who may be using the
21:42facilities. Obviously we're not too near the entrance to the A&E department so I don't think
21:47there's too big a safeguarding risk here but if the camera randomly goes like this then you know
21:53why. Always pays to be conscientious along those lines if at all possible. If you've only just
22:02joined me you're very welcome. It's Daniel Mumby here, your local democracy reporter.
22:08I'm not quite as drenched as I thought I would be when I first pulled up in Comitro this morning.
22:14It was absolutely bucketing it down with rain but we've managed to make it so far
22:21from Lyphill Lane on the edge of the Orchard Grove development where 2,000 homes are in the
22:27process of slowly but steadily being delivered and we are walking along the existing cycle and
22:35walking routes heading all the way into the town centre. We're talking about Orchard Grove,
22:42we're talking about the possible investment in this route to deliver the aspirational
22:49blue route within the Taunton local cycling and walking infrastructure plan
22:55and so far we have made it to the
23:02end of Parkfield Road or Parkfield Drive. So many similar sounding names of roads in this part of
23:08Taunton and I'm just going to let this car go past before we cross over and continue our journey.
23:15Fortunately Musgrove, aside from a few ambulances, queuing doesn't seem too busy this morning. Let's
23:21let's hope for the sanity of our doctors and nurses who work so hard that that continues
23:25throughout the weekend. Obviously we are now heading into the winter. I don't know what the
23:33long-range forecast is looking like but we can expect certain winter pressures on the service and
23:39we can expect certain winter pressures on the service and with all the talk about winter fuel
23:45allowances and so forth it'll be interesting to see what additional pressure that puts on our
23:51hard-working paramedics and ambulance services and of course on adult social care. The budget of
23:56course is coming up on October 30th and we can expect some announcements about health spending
24:02in that following the Darsey report of course but it's one thing that we should touch on as well
24:10with this active travel route that I'm walking along at the moment using this
24:15widened pavement along the Parkfield area. One of the criticisms that we often hear about active
24:23travel investment, whether it's widened pavements or new cycle lanes whether they're on or off the
24:29road, is well this investment it's not just anti-motorist but it discriminates against
24:36people who aren't able-bodied, people who have chronic conditions, people who can't walk long
24:42distances let alone use a bicycle. How does it benefit them or keep them safe? And the response
24:48that we've had on many occasions to that and the response that I would reiterate now is
24:53while constructing these routes may not inherently in the short term make the lives of those people
25:00better, it does create the opportunity first of all in the short term to allow people who live
25:07within rough walking distance of local services to try and use those services on foot
25:16and for the longer term it means that those of us who are slightly younger
25:20and haven't yet reached the age when we're coping with multiple chronic conditions,
25:25whether it's lung, heart, diabetes, anything else, that we can use these facilities to
25:31get healthier, stay fitter, even if it's just walking a mile a day.
25:36That can make such a difference in terms of taking pressure off the NHS and allowing the
25:40resources that we have to be put where they're most acutely needed and without wishing to get
25:46and without wishing to get totally on my soapbox, I think we all have a responsibility to stay
25:53as fit and as healthy as we can for as long as we can. We can still have fun. I'm not against people
25:59going to the pub once in a while or having a big barbecue meal or anything like that
26:04but I think that there is a wider discussion we should be having about how we stay healthier
26:12going forward and active travel is part of that conversation and my hope is certainly if the
26:18reaction of local parents is anything to go by when we ran the story earlier this week
26:24about the roadworks on Hoven Lane where we've just come up from,
26:29if you encourage people from a young age to walk and cycle and you provide the safe car-free routes
26:36so that they're not intimidated or at risk, it ingrains that behaviour in people and again it's
26:41not about banning cars, it's not about saying motorists are bad and should pay for everything,
26:46it's about providing the options so that we as free-thinking individuals
26:51in a liberal democracy can make our own decisions with the correct information.
26:58So we're coming up to the top of Parkfield Drive now and again
27:01I'm going to consult my mat because there are multiple different ways that we could go from here
27:06but instead of going on to Parkfield Road itself, we're going to bend around this way
27:14because we are going to be heading up onto Manor Road and join the A38 Wellington Road there.
27:23Now Manor Road is a one-way street for motorists and it is, as you can see, a dead end
27:33unless you're on a bicycle or on foot so we're absolutely fine to head up in this direction
27:40and you might just be able to see the canopy of the Tesco store just peeking over by that
27:47creamy yellow house as the rain starts to come down a little heavier.
27:51Rest assured we're now into the last third of our journey and so far it's been pretty smooth.
27:57If you haven't, just join me. It's Daniel Mumby here, your local democracy reporter.
28:01I'm out in Taunton. It's not the best weather for walking admittedly but we have seen a few
28:06people out with their dogs or on their bicycles. We've been walking from the Orchard Grove housing
28:12development which lies between the A38 Wellington Road in the Comitro Parish and Honiton Road in the
28:21parish of Trull. We started our journey on Lighthill Lane where a new crossing is being built
28:27to allow walking and cycling up towards the new primary school and we are showing you how easy
28:34it is with some reservations to make it through to the town centre on a bike or on foot and like I
28:45say this is a one-way street for cars but we can make it through here up to the junction relatively
28:55easy. Now if I were feeling rebellious I could just run across here but I'm going to use the
28:59proper staggered junction with the sheep pens as they're pejoratively known by cyclists to get over
29:07in this direction. One thing we should mention of course if you're interested in finding out more
29:14about cycling in Taunton is we'll put in the description or in the comment section when we
29:19finish the website of the Taunton Area Cycling Campaign which has been pushing for improvements
29:26in cycling across Somerset's county town for many many years and they've even produced a map of
29:34all the areas across the town not just on the blue route but all the areas where the facilities are
29:41subpar whether it's on the road or the paths leading off the main routes themselves. As we
29:47cross over the A38
29:52and into the other part of the sheep pen it's not quite as narrow as the ones on the A38 in
29:58Bridgewater which were completed a year or so ago and certainly if I were next to a few cyclists
30:04there's plenty of room for us all to wait. You can tell even on a Saturday lunchtime
30:11this road gets pretty busy and it is a rather complex junction in terms of how the traffic
30:14feeds through into the town centre as we cross over and take advantage of the shelter of these
30:21trees. What we're going to do is essentially move up Castle Street which we've just come on to now
30:29past the supermarkets. We're going to cross over Tangier
30:35and we'll either go through Goodland Gardens up to the bridge or we'll skirt a little further and
30:43go up Tower Street past the bus station. I think we'll probably do that and I reckon if you stick
30:50around for another five minutes that should give us ample time but thank you to everyone who has
30:54stuck around so far. I hope it's been informative. One of the hardest things with these live streams
31:01is knowing how much silence to leave when something complex happens and like I say we
31:06were awaiting statements from both Somerset Council and the Orchard Grove Consortium
31:12to put some meat on the bones of what is planned but they've not been forthcoming as intended.
31:19Hopefully though those will arrive by the time we run the article in a few days.
31:26Nice lady is just lending me a cross. This is a part of the journey where the cycling provision
31:31goes on road for a short distance because except for this area up here the pavement is not quite
31:38wide enough with the bus stop there to meet the Department for Transport requirements what's
31:44known the LTN 120 which in layman's terms means the path has to be three metres wide at least
31:50so that pedestrians and cyclists can pass each other in the same in opposite directions at the
31:55same time and of course to achieve that on other parts of Thomson's cycle network we've got the
32:05new bridge coming over the River Tone at Coal Orchard near the Morrison store which we're
32:11anticipating will be installed either side of the festive period and I'm sure we'll get more
32:18announcements in the next few weeks as to precisely when that will happen. It can often seem
32:25living in Somerset like it's endless roadworks and the second they finish one road they dig up
32:29the one next to it but all of these things however frustrating they are or however bad the
32:36planning behind them is they are designed to make our lives and our journeys easier and smoother
32:42whether that always works in practice that's something upon which we can have a healthy
32:46disagreement and please drop in the comments about your experiences. You may remember that
32:53route that we explored up to French Weir and looking at the various other options to get
33:02through to Taunton town centre we'll all being well be back out at Long Run Meadow in a couple
33:08of weeks to talk about the Taunton waterways strategy which is looking at ways to improve
33:15Somerset's walking and cycling network along the watercourses and also enhance both the Tone
33:21and the Bridgewater and Taunton canal in their own rights in terms of flood prevention in terms
33:28of encouraging leisure use such as canoeing and other boating and just to make them more inviting
33:34for both residents and visitors to our beloved county town. People often dunk on Taunton saying
33:41there's nothing going on here but I totally disagree I think it has a lot to shout about
33:47and again commiserations to the cricket club for coming so close to their first county
33:52championship I'm sure they'll be back stronger next year and I know that Somerset council's
33:58leader Bill Revins will be rooting for them ever strongly he's a huge supporter
34:03of our cricket club and good on him for doing so. So we're still on Castle Street coming up to the
34:11Tangier Bridge. We've come through Goodland Gardens many times in the last 12 months particularly with
34:17the removal of the old footbridge near River Rain Lodge. Taunton town council of course is looking
34:23at means to replace that with a new structure. We thought that when the new coal orchard bridge was
34:29announced that there might be the scope for lifting out the old bridge and moving it upstream
34:34but unfortunately as you might have read in our coverage it's the wrong size so we can't just do
34:41that. These are the questions we ask on your behalf. We'll just again hover here for a minute or two
34:51hopefully not for too long. I want to encourage best behaviour so I'm not going to just run into
34:57open traffic just because it's quite quiet.
35:02The rain is starting to come down very steadily now. If we weren't in the autumn before with the
35:08hot weather we had earlier this week it definitely feels autumnal now. On the upside of course that
35:13means it's carnival season so there's always something to enjoy and celebrate about being
35:19in Somerset. It is actually pretty quiet so I am just going to nip over here
35:23through this little chicane.
35:27Let's press the button for here. So far we haven't got any water on the lens or
35:32anything so debilitating as we wait for our green light.
35:40It's great to see several people out on their bikes braving the weather
35:46as they go through their green light. We'll just hang around for a bit longer. Thank you
35:50for your perseverance with this. It's one of those things you can plan the rest of the journey
35:55in exhausting and nauseating detail but something will always come along that surprises you
36:00and it's part of the fun with these live streams just you never know exactly what you're going to
36:04get. I'm going to let this car go past and then nip across because we are very close to the end
36:10I'm going to let this car go past and then nip across because we are very close to the end of
36:14our journey and I'm needing a coffee. So over Tangier Way we come past the Castle Street car
36:23park and we will finish our journey walking past Taunton's former bus station which closed back in
36:31August of 2020 if my memory serves but there has been a consultation going on about replacing it
36:39with a new transport hub which will allow more buses to stop here. It will include improved
36:46pedestrian links over these footbridges over the mill stream into Goodland Gardens and into the
36:52town centre. There'll be scope of course for electric buses stopping here not just the diesel
37:01powered ones because later this season First Bus will start upgrading its depot on Hamilton Road
37:09to allow for new electric services to start operating in the town.
37:14Now we're just going to cross over briefly so that we don't risk it running over by that vehicle.
37:24So this is where the transport hub will be instituted. The whole layout of the hard
37:31standing parking area will be changed. More buses will be able to actually stop in there rather than
37:37hovering around on the roadside. Obviously the NHS vaccination centre will relocate. We don't
37:43know exactly when that will happen probably after the winter and there will be a coach stop as well
37:54just up here by the Mecca.
37:59So we will reach our journey's end bending around
38:03near the Applin Parrot past the other bus stops
38:09and you can see although there isn't a formal cycle lane here at the moment
38:14it's relatively easy to navigate this section and we've made it all the way
38:21from the very western edge of Taunton at Orchard Grove into the very heart of the town centre
38:29of the town centre and just in time for the Pride event which will be starting at 11 o'clock.
38:37We've timed that perfectly. Well thank you very much for joining me here on Somerset Live. If
38:43you've missed any part of this live stream as I just take shelter under this tree it will be
38:48available in perpetuity on our Facebook page. There will be an article coming out in the next
38:53few days including statements from both Somerset Council and the Orchard Grove Consortium looking at
39:00what new cycle links are planned to finish the connection between Orchard Grove
39:04and the existing Blue Route and I will be back for another live stream on Saturday when hopefully
39:10the weather will be slightly more clement but in the meantime it's Daniel Mumby your local
39:15democracy reporter wishing you a very happy rest of the weekend regardless of how wet or dry it is.
39:21Bye for now.