SEDGEMOOR District Council (SDC) has taken steps to acquire land needed for a vital link road to serve the much-anticipated Huntspill Energy Park at Puriton.

When completed the 222-acre commercial development site is expected to create 4,000 jobs.

SDC has begun the legal processes for the land for the new road which will connect the Huntspill Energy Park to the A39 at Puriton Hill, bypassing the village of Puriton.

Statutory notices have appeared in the local press advertising the Sedgemoor District Council (Huntspill Energy Park) Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO).

The CPO will now be submitted to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government. 

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If confirmed, the Council will have the power to take possession of land required for the link road.

The Government has conferred Enterprise Zone status on Huntspill Energy Park, meaning a portion of the business rates generated can be invested in the District as part of ambitious plans for economic growth.

Developer Salamanca Group Topaz Limited has secured outline planning permission to develop the former Royal Ordnance Factory site as a business park, focused on low carbon and energy generation. 

The CPO affects numerous plots of land, some of them as small as around 40 square metres and others extending to more than 40,000 sq m.

A spokesperson for the Council said negotiations for purchasing all of the land required would continue in parallel with the compulsory purchase process. 

However, the CPO are being sought to help assemble the land within the Council’s delivery timescale.

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Leader of SDC, Cllr Duncan McGinty, said: “The timely development of this site is critical as it will double the District’s growth over the next 25 years, boosting the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of Sedgemoor and the wider South West.”

“The project will be the South West’s biggest single commercial development aside from Hinkley C, bringing the higher value jobs we seek and the opportunities that will underpin our aspirations for our community.”

The link road will run to the south/south east of Puriton from the A39 to the Huntspill Energy Park.