A new “bus priority corridor” could be provided on the A38 to support new housing and employment in three of Somerset’s largest towns.

Somerset County Council is working with Sedgemoor District Council and Taunton Deane Borough Council to secure up to £83M from the government’s Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF).

The funding can be used on projects to speed up the delivery of houses and employment sites where planning permission is already in place – such as building new roads or improved public transport links.

The county council has since reaffirmed its commitment to improve bus services along the A38, linking Wellington, Taunton and Bridgwater, as part of a wider strategy on bus transport.

Around 60 per cent of Somerset residents currently use a car or van for part or all of their commute, according to the council’s own studies.

Between them, the three towns linked by the A38 will provide around half of the growth in the entire county up to 2026.

A spokesman said: “The A38 corridor between Bridgwater, Taunton and Wellington is a particularly important link in supporting approximately 50 per cent of the growth and development of the county.

“Significant levels of employment, retail and residential development are proposed along this corridor within the three towns including, urban extensions at Comeytrowe, Monkton Heathfield, south Bridgwater and north-east Bridgwater.

“Congestion is already an issue along sections of the corridor, and it will be important to increase the proportion of people who travel to and from the new development areas by public transport compared to current typical travel choices if severe congestion is to be avoided, and to enable the development areas to be fully built-out in due course.

“We will therefore progress proposals for a bus priority corridor on the A38 between Wellington, Taunton and Bridgwater, initially focusing on a first phase between Monkton Heathfield and Taunton town centre.”

The council has undertaken initial feasibility studies to assess what routes the buses would be able to take to and from these settlements and how the existing A38 may need to be enhanced to speed up journey times.

Further studies will be commissioned into 2019, with other sources of funding also being explored.

Other bus priority corridors could also be provided elsewhere in the county in the longer term, as funding becomes available.

The spokesman added: “We will consider opportunities to develop bus priority for other key public transport corridors within the county over the longer-term, although the scale of planned development on other corridors and opportunity to physically accommodate bus priority measures is more limited.”