New £5.3m scheme for business park near M5 in Somerset

Somerset Council has approved the development near the M5, which will cost £5.3m

A new £5.3 million scheme to develop a business and attract more jobs has been approved.

Three new commercial units will be developed at Peninsula 23 Business Park near the M5 in Bridgwater, Somerset.

The site lies on the A38 Bristol Road and currently hosts the firms Monmouth Scientific and Somerset Willow.

Somerset Council approved the proposals, with construction set to begin later this year.

It is not yet known which companies will be moving to the units when they are completed.

Roselea Properties Limited and C.M. Limited put forward the plans to build the a further three commercial units at the northern end of the site in September 2023, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The site is bordered by an existing cycle route, which forms part of the Bridgwater local cycling and walking infrastructure plan (LCWIP) and will eventually link the town centre to the new gigafactory being delivered at the Gravity enterprise zone between Puriton and Woolavington.

Work on the site is expected to start in the next few months

Each of the units will have parking places as well as turning space for lorries, allowing the units to be used as distribution hubs.

A spokesman for the developers said: "The units are similar in height to the adjoining completed units of the Monmouth Scientific and Somerset Willow buildings, and will present a continuation of the form and scale of the existing buildings as viewed from the A38.

"The existing site will be raised in level to suit the agreed building finished floor levels, which meets the Environment Agency's requirements in relation to potential flooding from the adjacent River Parrett."

Construction on the units is expected to start in the coming months, and will be coordinated around the improvements to the Dunball roundabout, which is being financed by the government's levelling up fund.

Somerset Council is currently awaiting the outcome of the tendering process for the scheme, with the work expected to get under way in the summer or early-autumn.