Station restoration, NHS centre and Bristol housing clearances push West of England projects forward

A rush of major projects across the Bristol-Somerset corridor advanced in the latest round of local reports and planning notices, tying together a restored railway station, a new NHS diagnostic centre and planning clearances for a large housing site near the city’s northern fringe.

Castle Cary railway station, which Somerset County Gazette said handles more than 370,000 passengers a year, has had its waiting room and ticket office restored after an £835,000 investment [1].

In Bridgwater, a £17.8 million NHS diagnostic centre has officially opened on a formerly empty site, the Bridgwater Mercury reported, with a specialist service still to come [2].

On the northern fringe of Bristol, South Gloucestershire Council’s planning weekly list recorded the discharge of an archaeology condition and a flood-mitigation condition for an outline permission allowing up to 1,290 dwellings, an extra care facility and community facilities on land south of the railway and east of Harry Stoke (South), Stoke Gifford [3][4].