By Harry Mottram: Anyone who has ridden, driven or cycled around the traffic interchange outside Compton Manor at the end of the west end of Axbridge will know how precarious it is for road users. Last week there was another road crash there which was reported online on FaceBook by Todd Denning Southern. (The photo is from his post on FaceBook.) He wrote: “All walked away from the scene. Nasty accident this evening at the top end of the village, all cars are now moved and traffic is flowing free, but the clean up operation was a bit lacking, there’s a hastily sanded pool of oil brake fluid and petrol in front of the central divide and glass and plastic everywhere.”
The main issue is that despite the new STOP signs many drivers (due to habit or ignorance) fail to stop as they come down the slip road from the bypass. As oncoming traffic passes from the traffic island turning into West Street they can be t-boned – as the phrase goes. Another factor is speed as vehicles enter the interchange giving little time to react. The traffic interchange has been altered over the years but it remains a legacy of a 1970s design when a piece of urban motorway was imposed on the town. The bypass – sometimes called ‘the strip’ – is where vehicles reach 100mph regularly – while there is no footpath, pavement or cycle path for other road users. There have been fatalities and serious injuries caused along the bypass and interchange – perhaps it is time for a 21st century redesign to make them safer.
Wessex Water announce hosepipe ban
Axbridge is in an unusual situation as Wessex Water provide sewage services while Bristol Water provide drinking water. From August 18th, Wessex Water imposed a hosepipe ban on much of their region but not here. Bristol Water haven’t – so we can continue to water our gardens with a hosepipe. With showers of rain this week there and cooling temperatures it appears the drought is over. However Bristol Water have urged consumers to use less water and have imposed bans in Devon and the far western area of Somerset.
1976 and all that
A question raised in the media was 2026 hotter than the famous drought of 1976? According to the Met Office 2026 was hotter for longer – but for those of us with long memories there were no stand-pipes in the street this time, no Government advice to share a 2 inch bath with a friend or for a Government minister to be announced. Denis Howell MP was appointed to solve the crisis in 1976 and was the most successful appointment ever – it rained just 48 hours later across the country after he took office – job done! The difference between then and this summer is it was drier for longer with little rain from March onwards while this year we had prolonged wet periods in late spring. Whatever pundits say, 1976 had better music and TV than now. I give you: Maxime Nightingale, Queen, Elton John, 10CC, Sailor, Barry White, Candi Statton and our very own Wurzels on Top of the Pops! And on ‘the box’ there was ‘The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin,’ Ripping Yarns, George and Mildred, while Play for Today had so many great dramas such as Nuts In May – all of which you should be able to track down on YouTube. I rest my case.
Sponsored Nursing degrees open to local residents
The nearest main hospital to Axbridge is Weston Hospital – now part of the Bristol NHS Foundation Trust. The Trust has a partnership with BPP University to offer sponsored Nursing degrees for Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG) residents – with 15 places available for eligible applicants to start the course in October 2026. The Trust will provide partial sponsorship funding for all three years of the degree programme, reducing each students’ course fees to under £4,000 per year – less than half the amount most students in England borrow from student finance as a tuition fee loan each year. Additional funding is also available through the NHS Learning Support Fund, including a £5,000 per year training grant, which can be used at the student’s discretion to pay off their student loan early or support with living expenses.
See https://www.bpp.com/nursing-and-healthcare/bristol-nhs-foundation-trust
Banwell Bypass: Road closure
The A371 between Banwell and Sandford is closed until the end of August while the new section of the Banwell Bypass is constructed changing the layout of the road as it enters the village from the east. You can drive to Banwell using the very narrow Castle Hill but Dark Lane is permanently closed while work continues. If you are coming from Sandford then you can either turn off at All Saints Church up Hill Road to Winscombe or take Nye Road to the A370 via Puxton if you are heading to Worle or Weston-super-Mare. Wolvershill is open but has been subject to closures while the bypass is built. North Somerset Council state: “Construction on the £105 million Banwell Bypass project managed by North Somerset Council and contractor Galliford Try is progressing well on site, with the new Moor Road link open and the southern link road tracking toward a traffic opening in early 2027.”
Kings of Wessex exam results
The main senior school for Axbridge is Kings of Wessex in Cheddar who have posted on their FaceBook site news of exam results this summer. Like most schools they are delighted with the numbers of students who passed their GCSEs and A Levels – listing some of those who managed outstanding passes. Head of Sixth Form, Miss Beacham, said of the A Level results: “We celebrate the hard work, commitment and resilience they have shown throughout their journey. A huge congratulations to every one of our students — we are incredibly proud of you and all you have achieved!”
Headteacher, David Wiltshire, commented after the GCSE results were published: “I look forward to working with those students returning to Kings Sixth and I wish every student the very best of luck with the next step in their journey.”
For more on the exam results see https://www.facebook.com/kowessex/
Cheddar Reservoir 2
As previously reported Cheddar Reservoir 2 is scheduled to be constructed during 2028-30 with consultations with landowners and the public in late 2026 and 2027. The project is expected to go over budget – in part due to the difficult to assess the cost of the pipeline which crosses many farms, fields and public owned land – when legal objections could be raised. And I have previously raised some of the doubts over whether it will go ahead due to costs and a change in Government attitude to privately owned utilities. No recent updates so we await news about the next round of consultations and news from Bristol Water.
Bristol Water is owned by South West Water who are owned by the Exeter based Pennon Group – and the project to build the new reservoir and pipeline is fronted by West Country Water and Environment (WCWE) – an umbrella group representing water firms in the region. An initial consultation took place in 2025. WCWE wrote in their online documents for Gate 3: “A further public consultation (Public Consultation 2) will be undertaken in 2027 to present updated and more detailed information on the project, including the refined pipeline route, findings from environmental assessments, proposed construction access routes and the proposed landscape strategy for the reservoir. This engagement stage will aim to inform and prepare communities, address any outstanding concerns, and ensure stakeholders are fully aware of what to expect as the project moves toward planning submission.”
In WCWE’s documents on the project there is a table of planned work in RAPID Gate Three Strategic Resource Option – Cheddar 2 Reservoir & Transfer Appendix 6 – Programme and Planning. There’s no real updates on the projects since the documents were published earlier this year – but to view the plans visit https://www.westcountrywaterandenvironment.org/document-library/cheddar-2-sro-documents
Planning non-news
Those new to this site may not know of several other major planning stories for Axbridge. However I have no new updates on them. But for the record apart from a second reservoir next to the current one along with a new filtration centre on the Axbridge side, there are no updates on the Lidl supermarket for Upper New Road, Strongvox’s housing estate off Orchard Road or the new housing estate on the former Yogurt Factory site off the A371on Axbridge Road. The planning process can take time – plus with the Iran-USA war unresolved and its effect on the world economy – I suspect caution is one reason for the delays.
Axbridge Diary of Events
Some Axbridge dates coming up at https://www.harrymottram.co.uk/diary/
Harry Mottram
Note: I get asked this frequently so just to repeat I write up these stories from time to time out of personal interest – all the information is in the public domain – I put it together, so it makes sense to me. I’ve always taken an interest in local affairs having worked as a journalist in Somerset for many years. More at at www.harrymottram.co.uk and social media on X as @harrythe spiv, Facebook, Blue Sky, LinkedIn, Instagram, Threads and God knows where else!
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