A key roundabout linking the M5 to a growing Somerset town won’t start until 2026 at the earliest.

The Edithmead roundabout links junction 22 of the motorway to the A38 Bristol Road towards Highbridge and the B3140 Brent Road leading to Burnham-on-Sea, Berrow and Brean.

The roundabout was identified back in June 2021 as one of nine improvement schemes which could improve the flow of traffic on the A38 between Highbridge and Bristol Airport.

Somerset Council confirmed in late-February that it had formally applied to the Department for Transport (DfT) for funding to transform this crucial junction, at a predicted cost of £6.4m.

The council has now received funding to develop the final business case for the project – but this business case won’t be submitted until the end of next year, meaning the scheme won’t see the light of day until 2026 at the earliest.

Of the nine road improvements included in the ‘major road network’ (MRN) proposals, initially proposed by North Somerset Council and Somerset County Council, four of the schemes fall on the county council (now Somerset Council) side of the boundary.

The other schemes entail traffic calming measures being installed in the village of Rooksbridge, realigning the Cross junction, and an improved crossing for the Strawberry Line active travel route on the A38 Shute Shelve near Axbridge.

The Edithmead upgrade will see the existing roundabout turned into a ‘throughabout’, with a new priority line running through the centre to take traffic from the motorway towards the northbound A38.

This, in theory, should reduce the traffic moving around the roundabout from the M5 in Highbridge, cutting congestion on the approach to the town.

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When Somerset Council appointed Centregreat to deliver improvements to the Dunball roundabout in August, the contract was laid out in such a fashion that it could be extended to include the Edithmead upgrade and other improvements, to save taxpayers time and money on future procurement.

North Somerset Council and Somerset Council have been awarded more than £500,000 between them to develop the final business case for the Edithmead scheme – with the latter stating that it could take up to 12 months for this to be completed to be submitted to the DfT.

A spokesman said: “We have been given some development funding by central government after submitting an outline business case last year.

“Full funding will be subject to approval of a final business case next year once we have a tender price.

“The two councils have been provided around £527,000 for the development of the full business case across two financial years.

“We expect a full business case to be submitted towards the end of 2025.”

The Dunball roundabout upgrades will get under way on November 11 and will be completed in around 12 months – meaning there will be no conceivable overlap between the two projects.

The Burnham-on-Sea and Highbridge area is identified within the Sedgemoor Local Plan as delivering 15 per cent of new homes in the district by 2032, along with an extension of the Isleport Business Park.

National Highways, which manages the M5, had placed a ‘holding objection’ on numerous planning applications around the motorway junction, limiting how many new homes or commercial units could be developed until an improvement scheme had been agreed.

To ease the problem, Sedgemoor District Council – in one of its final actions before being abolished – approved a £1.6m ‘Plan B’ scheme for the roundabout in February 2023.

This has enabled the delivery of more homes within the Isleport Grove site on Isleport Lane, and the construction of the new McDonald’s and Greggs outlets within the Oaktree Business Park – the former of which opened in September.

Somerset Council recently approved plans for a new Starbucks drive-thru within the same business park, but National Highways has not removed its ‘holding objection’ – meaning the final decision on the plans may have to be taken by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).