The delivery of a traffic-free route across rural Somerset will continue despite the county's huge financial pressures, a local councillor has confirmed.

Mendip District Council has been working since 2020 to complete numerous "missing links" across the district, including sections of the Strawberry Line which will eventually run uninterrupted from Yatton to Shepton Mallet.

The newest section of the Strawberry Line has recently opened in the village of Westbury-sub-Mendip, running around one kilometre between Station Road and Erlon Lane.

Council leader Ros Wyke – whose ward includes the village – has now promised that work on the remaining sections of the path will continue once the new unitary Somerset Council takes control in April, in spite of the challenging financial situation facing the county.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service walked the newest section of the Strawberry Line on Wednesday (January 11) with Ms Wyke and Mick Fletcher, chairman of the Strawberry Line Society.

The route takes its name from a section of the Great Western Railway which was famous for transporting strawberries and dairy produce to London markets.

Strawberries were so lucrative to the communities within the Cheddar valley that they were known as "red gold" – but the line was closed in 1965 as part of the infamous Beeching cuts.

Much of the Strawberry Line route follows the original track bed, with the Westbury-sub-Mendip stretch running near one of the disused railway bridges (over which the A371 to Cheddar now runs).

Ms Wyke – who also sits on the parish council – said: "We're looking at small sections which can actually deliver local benefits, as well as contributing to the overall Somerset Circle.

"I'm absolutely over the moon – the community has been campaigned for over 20 years to have this.

"The A371 is a very narrow, dangerous road – it's between two stone walls, so if you're walking, cycling or horse-riding, there's no hedge to dive into."

The Strawberry Line forms part of the Somerset Circle which, when completed, will form a 76-mile traffic-free circuit which would link the north Somerset coast (including Weston-super-Mare and Clevedon), Bristol, Bath, the Mendip Hills and Cheddar.

Mr Fletcher – who lives in the village – said: "We're in the shadow of the Mendip Hills. If you wanted to cycle out of Westbury, you'd have to face either going up steep hills with heroically thick thighs or going along the main road.

"When we can run the Strawberry Line through to the adjacent villages, there will be a huge public benefit."

The longest uninterrupted section of the Strawberry Line currently runs from Yatton railway station to the entrance of the Kings of Wessex Academy on the A371 Station Road in Cheddar.

A further extension, as far as Old Bridge Lane, was identified as part of a £19.3m bid to the government's levelling up fund, which, if approved, would fund numerous regeneration projects in Cheddar, Highbridge and Shepton Mallet.

The Westbury section of the path – which was given the go-ahead in August 2022 – is made out of limestone dust and chippings, complementing the same materials as the surrounding hills.

Volunteers have also planted 2,500 hedging whips along the new section, which will eventually grow into thick hedgerow to act as a further buffer between the path and local farmland.

Ms Wyke said: "More than anything, it's about having local volunteers together with willing and able landowners, who are willing to have a permissive path across their land.

"We help the farmers and landowners with appropriate fencing and drainage, but it has to be a two-way deal."

Following the delivery of a short section between Wells and the Charlie Bingham site in Dulcote, the council is also currently working on delivering two additional sections of the Strawberry Line in Shepton Mallet – one between Summerhill Lane and Kent Lane, and one through its own car park off Cannard's Grave Road.

Ms Wyke said: "The car park section is all there, barring the permissions to go under one bridge.

"It's going to be a really important link between the Tadley Acres area through Collett Park and the Townsend retail park, where you've got Tesco and other stores. The route goes under the A371, which is a remarkably busy road. It's days away from opening."

Mendip District Council will cease to exist on April 1, being replaced by the new unitary Somerset Council – which faces the challenge of having to find more than £38m in additional savings in its first year.

Ms Wyke – who serves as the county councillor for Mendip West – gave her assurance that work on the Strawberry Line and other active travel routes would continue in spite of this challenging financial picture.

She said: "Active travel is one of our main priorities, and we have been quite adept at getting funding from external sources, not just from the taxpayer – and we are determined to continue to do this.

"Using local volunteers and local contractors, we're looking at relatively small amounts of money to make things happen.

"The work will continue in a lot of creative and imaginative ways. Inevitably, we will be running up against the challenges of finance, but we can find ways and means of overcoming those.

"I'm extremely optimistic – we have momentum now. The new administration at County Hall will continue the work.

"Local people have made it very clear that they want alternatives to the car. If nothing else, one of the legacies of covid must be the fact that there is a renewed appreciation and need to have access to the countryside.

"We want to make Somerset a cycling, walking, horse-riding county, and that is something we're going to work really hard to do over the next four years."

For more information on the Strawberry Line, including how to volunteer, visit www.thestrawberryline.org.uk.