Village 'no' to link road plan

VILLAGERS in Flax Bourton have given a resounding NO to proposals to build a new link road through their village.The Greater Bristol Strategic Transport Study (GBSTS) is recommending the road, which could be a dual carriageway, be built within the next 25 years.The new road would follow the existing B3130 north of Nailsea and south of Tickenham and join the A370 between Flax Bourton and Cambridge Batch.Concerned parish councillors have leafleted the whole village canvassing views about the road plan, with residents strongly saying no to the proposal.Worried residents also packed a parish council meeting to have their say against the study's findings.Flax Bourton Parish Council chairman Caz Hore-Ruthven said: "We asked people to give their views on the proposals put forward in the GBSTS."All of the residents were very concerned at plans for a road through their village and have written to object to the suggestions."Transport consultants Atkins has spent the last two years working on the study, which will now be presented to local authorities before being passed to the South West Regional Assembly for discussion.Flax Bourton Parish Council has also objected to the road proposal, saying it would have a massive environmental impact.Mrs Hore-Ruthven said: "The parish council has sent a formal objection to the study's proposals for a road."The council was very concerned about the environmental impact such a road would have and the noise, pollution and damage to the countryside it would cause."The road link between Clevedon and the A370 was originally mooted in the late 1980s by Somerset County Council, but thrown out later by Avon County Council. But Atkins, who have spent two years drawing up the blueprint, was asked to revisit the possibility of introducing such a road as part of the latest study.The new road, being put forward as part of a package of long term measures, would eventually link up with a new ring road south of Bristol.