AN effort to speed up delivery of a major employment site near Bridgwater has been made as officials warn it will cost tens of millions of pounds to restore rail services to the area.

Sedgemoor District Council has been working to help deliver the Gravity smart campus, located on the former Royal Ordnance factory between the villages of Puriton and Woolavington, east of the M5.

Councillors have agreed in principle to create a local development order (LDO) for the site, which would all different aspects to be delivered much quicker and thereby make it easier for companies to commit to the new base.

Under an LDO, the use for a given site (whether residential, commercial or otherwise) is agreed in advance between the council and the developer, allowing the developer to begin constructing different elements of the site without individual planning applications, making the delivery of the entire site much quicker.

Sedgemoor’s executive met in Bridgwater on Wednesday (October 13) to discuss the LDO before it goes out to public consultation.

The site is expected to deliver a total of 1,000,000 sq m of commercial space, with 750 homes on-campus for employees and a range of cafés, restaurants and more.

Under the proposals, the site will be divided into different zones for different uses, with the commercial elements being concentrated in the northern and central areas of the campus.

Burnham and Highbridge Weekly News: Artist\'S Impression Of The Gravity Smart Campus Being Constructed Near Bridgwater. CREDIT: Gravity. Free to use for all BBC wire partners.

The residential elements of the site will be concentrated in the south-eastern corner, near Woolavington.

The south-western corner, near Puriton, will be dedicated to leisure provision.

The southern edge of the site would be given over to commercial outlets, a hotel and any education provision.

A new rail link to the site and a new station to the west which would connect passengers to the mainline between Bristol and Exeter is also planned.

The Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) estimates it will cost £50m to restore the link – which would connect between the existing Bridgwater and Highbridge & Burnham stations - and £20m to upgrade Junction 23 of the M5.

One potential occupier of Gravity is US electric car giant Rivian, with reports the company is in talks with the government over a £1bn factory, which could create up to 40,000 jobs.

The LDO will go out to public consultation later in the year.