Taunton councillor vows to continue fight for new footbridge
Councillor challenges town council decision to scrap Goodland Gardens bridge plans
A Taunton councillor has vowed to keep fighting for a new footbridge over the River Tone in the town centre.
Taunton Town Council voted on May 12 to scrap plans to install a replacement for the Goodland Gardens footbridge, which was removed in the summer of 2024 after being closed off to the public for 18 months.
The town council voted by 13 votes to three not to proceed with a new bridge, which could cost up to £500,000 to deliver – a decision which has drawn a mixed reception on social media and from local residents.
Councillor Caroline Ellis – one of the three councillors who supported the project – has said she will keep pushing for the project to be taken forward, exploring different funding sources and making the case for the bridge as a vital part of Taunton’s walking and cycling network.
Ms Ellis represents the North Town ward on the town council, as well as being one of two councillors for the Bishop’s Hull and Taunton West division on Somerset Council.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service at the former bridge site on Thursday morning (May 28), she explained: “We had agreed in principle to move forward with a new bridge, but this was crunch time – it was about whether we set the ball in motion.
“There has been so much work done over the last couple of years. The town council responded to the strength of public feeling and the need to have this crossing – a whole bunch of work was done on feasibility studies on the kind of bridge, and there was a public consultation back in 2024.
“The old bridge was a thing of beauty when you looked at it. It was incredibly steep, but people absolutely loved that wretched bridge because it was such a handy connector.
“It just connected us so easily, from all the green spaces at Bishop’s Hull and Silk Mills, through Longrun Meadow and down French Weir – you could just hope over the river and you’d be in the heart of the town.”
A like-for-like replacement bridge would not have been viable due to accessibility concerns, with the town council having looked at various different designs and materials – including fibre-reinforced polymer, which would have a lifespan of 120 years and need very little maintenance.
Ms Ellis said that she was “clinging on” to the possibility that this project could be revisited in the near-future, especially if alternative funding could be identified.
She said: “I have not given up on this, because I still believe it is needed.
“It’s needed strategically for Taunton in terms of our ambition to be a garden town. It’s needed in terms of the residents, who miss this bridge, and it was beloved by dog walkers.
“Now you have to go up, right the way around and along this big A-road to get to French Weir – that’s ridiculous.
“For some people, it was a quick cut-through – including for people looking to get to the railway station, it was a shorter and more pleasant journey.
“It’s a question of regrouping and checking in with everyone else who is passionate about this.”
The Taunton garden town strategy aims, among other things, to ensure that major housing developments on the town’s periphery enjoy accessible walking and cycling connections to the town centre.
Ms Ellis believes that a new footbridge would play a vital role in this, and would especially benefit those who are either unable or unwilling to drive to access local services.
She said: “The garden town vision is about having car-free routes which connect the whole town.
“One of the amazing things about Taunton is that you can almost forget you are in a town. The countryside comes into the town and you are surrounded by nature.
“The existing bridges might be okay if you’re very able, but in my patch there are a lot of older people and disabled people, and they can’t just zoom around.
“You’ve got families with young people who don’t want to walk along a busy road. That’s why this is necessary.
“If you want people to come and invest here, you’ve got to sell what’s great about it.”
Goodland Gardens lies within a short distance of the new Taunton transport hub, which is being delivered through £3.2m of central government funding and is expected to be up and running by Christmas.
The proposed bridge would have been partially funded through the community infrastructure levy (CIL), a share of which is paid to the town council by developers building new homes within the parish of Taunton.
CIL funding has to be spent on eligible projects within five years – with Ms Ellis indicating that additional sources would need to be found if the project cannot be quickly resurrected.
She said: “There is so much that the town council wants to do for Taunton.
“We’ve got a big parks improvement programme, we are rejuvenating public toilets – there’s lots of different demands and lots of communities which have not had the improvements they’ve deserved.
“We need to know what the needs are in different areas and have projects which are ‘oven-ready’.
“It’s going to be exhausting, but at least now we’ve had all these studies down and we know what’s involved.
“If the town council is a bit wary about funding the whole lot, Churchill Retirement Living was very keen. At the point that we decided we would go ahead in principle, they said they definitely wanted to contribute.
“We’ve got development going on at Debenhams and the potential for development over at the Tangier site as well – so I think it should be possible.”
To get involved in the bridge campaign, email [email protected].
Ms Ellis added: “Look up your local councillor and do write to them – not in an angry way, but express disappointment in the decision and hope that they will look for opportunities to take it forward in the future.
“Reach out to me, because I want to hear your views on this.
“I’m prepared to fight for it if you’ll fight alongside me.”