Push for more buses at Somerset hospital blocked by helipad rules
Helipad safety rules limit bus service expansion at Taunton’s Musgrove Park Hospital, campaigners say
The number of buses serving one of Somerset’s main hospitals cannot be easily increased – because of how often the helipad is used.
Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton has benefited from a working helipad outside its A&E department since May 2010, allowing paramedics to respond more quickly to incidents in isolated areas.
The Somerset Bus Partnership has been working with Somerset Council to improve the frequency of buses serving the hospital site, in a bid to reduce congestion on local roads and relieve pressure on the site’s existing multi-storey car park.
But Taunton campaigner David Northey revealed on Tuesday (April 28) that these efforts have been stymied due to government regulations on how often buses can operate near working helipads.
Mr Northey raised the issue at a virtual meeting of the council’s bus advisory board, which brings together councillors, officers, bus operators and transport campaigners to discuss service quality and potential improvements.
He said: “Through the Taunton local community network (LCN), we have in the last two months struck up an engagement with Musgrove Park Hospital – it feels like a positive step.
“One of the problems with Musgrove, that they stated and we didn’t know, was that due to a national policy on the helicopter arrival and departure bit, it’s restricting the amount of buses that could potentially go into the hospital.
“This is something that we need to challenge, because it doesn’t seem to be restricting the number of cars that go into the hospital.”
The hospital is currently served by regular buses from both of Taunton’s park and ride sites, with steps recently being taken to make it easier for passengers from the west Somerset area to connect with this service from the town centre.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) issued revised guidance in 2024 covering “standards for helicopter landing areas at hospitals”.
The guidance stated that “additional road markings” must be put in place near helipads to “deter stationary traffic”, including bus, cars and taxis.
It further states: “Within the immediate heliport area, markings such as red routes, no waiting zones and hatched areas should be used to prevent vehicles parking or waiting in areas where the vehicle may either become an aviation obstacle (especially on bus routes or ambulance parking areas), or where the occupants may enter or exit the vehicle and be subject to down-wash/ out-wash.”
Mr Northey said he and his colleagues at the Somerset Bus Partnership would meet with the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust (which runs the hospital) in the coming weeks to see whether additional bus services could be accommodated on site without putting patients at risk.
He added: “We have some dates when we’re going to meet with the estates team at the hospital to go and have a look at this, to see if there are some other options.
“We have some ideas of how we can get some more buses linking into that part of Taunton, because it is such a critical area.”