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The Wheel
HAYDON BATCH MASTERPLAN Following the purchase of Haydon Batch by
Radstock Town Council in 2019, a draft masterplan for the site has now been produced and the Town Council is keen to know the views of local people on the proposals. For anyone who does not already know, Haydon Batch is a 7.9 hectare (19.6 acre) piece of land just under one mile from the centre of Radstock and immediately to the west of the village of Haydon. Most of the site comprises of a disused colliery spoil heap that is now covered by rich grassland and maturing woodland. The batch was the site for deposition of spoil from Kilmersdon Colliery, otherwise known as Haydon Pit. The pit head was the other side of the road and spoil was brought to the site via a tramway across the road. The colliery was closed in 1973, then during the 1970’s and early 80’s, a coal recovery operation was undertaken to remove remnants of coal from within the spoil. Following this, the site was landscaped, with a system of drainage diches installed to help prevent surface erosion and some areas of plantation woodland. From then onwards, the site has been unofficially used as a public greenspace. When the site came up for sale in 2018, it was acquired by Radstock Town Council (with the purchase being completed in 2019) in order to preserve it from development and retain it as a public greenspace. In 2021, Radstock Town Council commissioned New Leaf Studio, a local practice of Landscape Architects to come up with a masterplan for treatment and improvement of the site. New Leaf Studio know the area well, having previously been responsible for the Radstock Memorial Gardens by the museum and more recently, working with Midsomer Norton Town Council and Westfield Parish
Council. To help inform production of the draft masterplan, a workshop meeting was held at the Haydon Village Hall / Que Club in July 2021. This was attended by invited members from various stakeholder groups, including Youth Connect South West, Radstock In Bloom, Radstock Councillors, Haydon Allotments, Avon Valley / Cam Valley Wildlife Group, Creativity Works, Westfield Parish Council, Hylton Estate, Haydon Que Club and Haydon Football Club, Haydon Community Garden, Radstock Museum, Zero Waste Eco Group, local resident representatives and Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Somer Valley Rediscovered Project Manager. This session explored possibilities and opportunities for the site and was a chance for various concerns to be voiced. The landscape architect and Town Clerk also met with the Youth Group organised by Youth Connect South West at the St Nicholas’ Church Tea Rooms in September 2021. This was a less structured session, attended by around 20-30 young people. It helped give an insight into features and uses that might be attractive to a younger audience. Following that, New Leaf Studio has been working to gain a fuller understanding of the features of the site and to produce the draft masterplan. Now the Town Council is keen to know your views, so will be staging an exhibition of the proposals in the Community
