MP Adam Dance Pledges Open Town Hall on Chard Relief Road Once Somerset Council Publishes Route Report

Yeovil MP Adam Dance has publicly committed to organising and chairing a town hall meeting on the Chard Eastern Relief Road, timed to follow the release of Somerset Council's summer route report, which is expected no earlier than September 2026.

The announcement comes after months of mounting frustration from Chard residents who have sought details about the proposed road's route, its potential impact on Chard Reservoir nature reserve, and the traffic data underpinning the entire project. Freedom of Information requests have gone unanswered. An internal highways report believed to advise against construction has not been published. A WSP flooding report was released only in heavily redacted form.

Somerset Council has argued against a public meeting at this stage, describing it as logistically premature. Dance's position is that residents deserve a forum where they can question highways officers directly, with the route report in front of them, rather than receiving information filtered through planning communications.

The format of the proposed meeting would allow residents, businesses, conservation groups and others with a direct interest in the outcome to put questions to the relevant officers in a public setting.

The relief road debate in Chard is not straightforward. The town has genuine infrastructure problems, as the Lordsleaze Lane closure in May demonstrated. The question of whether the proposed route, at the proposed cost, through the proposed landscape, is the right answer to those problems is precisely what residents want to discuss. A public meeting is the appropriate place to do that.

Proper Job News will report on the date and venue for the town hall as soon as it is confirmed.