North Somerset has listed what it wants from joining WECA, led by a 30-hectare jobs site in Weston. Councillors are asked to endorse it on 10 November.
North Somerset Council has drawn up a list of projects it wants funded once it joins the West of England Combined Authority (WECA). Top of the list is a 30-hectare employment site in Weston-super-Mare, which the council says could bring 500 to 1,000 jobs.
Full Council is asked to endorse the list on Tuesday 10 November (Council report, 10 November).
Where membership stands
North Somerset is the only council in the West of England that is not part of WECA. The others are Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, and South Gloucestershire.
Full Council voted in May 2026 to seek membership. WECA passed a matching resolution in June, and the request went to the government. The report says it is “under consideration”. If ministers agree, they will draft legislation for Parliament, which is “expected to happen over the next few months”. North Somerset would become a full member as soon as the law is made.
Some powers would move. Responsibility for transport planning, as the Local Transport Authority, would pass to WECA. The council would stay in charge of the roads themselves, as the highways authority.
The money on the table
The government has given £15m for building projects and £1m for running costs to WECA and North Somerset to support the expansion, the report says. WECA will hold the money and judge bids through its usual process.
The other three councils can bid too. But the report proposes that North Somerset bids get extra weight, because the area “has been unable to access a number of funding streams since 2018”.
What North Somerset wants funded
Officers and Cabinet members picked these priorities for 2026 to 2028. Several go beyond the £15m, and some would need more money later.
| Project | What it is | Estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Weston Business Quarter | Opening up 30 hectares at the Weston Enterprise Area, possibly including a second phase of the Foodworks | £10m to £20m |
| Town centres and high streets | Building work to revive town centres, workspaces, and cultural and heritage venues | £5m to £10m |
| Wyndham Way, Portishead, and Pill | Public space and walking, cycling and bus links around the new MetroWest stations | £3m to £5m |
| Nailsea and Backwell roads | Early, interim measures to ease traffic from planned new housing | £2m to £5m |
| Nature parks | Buying land to create nature parks that sell biodiversity credits to developers | £2m to £4m |
| Climate and energy | Renewable energy, starting with a solar scheme in Weston that would also serve the new waste depot | £1.5m to £3m |
| Town masterplans | Plans for Nailsea, Portishead and Weston-super-Mare town centres and big development sites | £1m, starting with £350,000 |
| Mass transit to Bristol Airport | A rapid transit link from Bristol to the airport | Not yet costed; from 2030 |
| Jobs, skills and business support | Access to WECA programmes, after the UK Shared Prosperity Fund ended | Not yet costed |
The report says the Weston site “has received strong and repeated commercial interest”. It has “stalled due to cost of initial infrastructure”. It also notes the site sits next to a ward that is among the 5% most disadvantaged nationally.
On Nailsea and Backwell, it says full relief from traffic “requires more significant intervention”. The interim measures could reduce pressure while bigger solutions are worked out.
The large development sites named for masterplans are Wolvershill, Woodspring, Nailsea and Backwell, and Pill and Easton-in-Gordano.
Six ambitions
Alongside the list, councillors are asked to endorse a “place narrative” for North Somerset. Inner Circle Consulting helped draft it, paid for from government money for the membership process. It sets six aims:
- good jobs closer to home
- easier, more reliable everyday journeys
- fairer growth across all communities
- towns and places people are proud of
- local and regional bodies pulling in the same direction
- keeping the benefits of growth local
The risks
The report rates the risk that there is not enough money for every project as high. Even after mitigation it stays “medium/high”. Officers say “it is not expected that all projects will necessarily receive full funding”.
It rates the risk that the government or WECA rejects North Somerset’s membership as low.
What it means for you
- Nothing changes yet. Membership needs government approval and a law passed by Parliament. Bus and transport planning would move to WECA only after that.
- The projects are not approved. Each would need a business case, and each, the report says, would get its own consultation. Endorsing the list on 10 November also lets officers submit outline business cases without coming back to councillors first.
- Watch the Weston and Nailsea items. They carry the biggest sums and the clearest local impact. Our planning news page tracks the applications that follow.
The same meeting decides the Tropicana’s future, the Banwell bypass overspend and the A38 re-tender. It starts at 6pm and the papers are on the council’s meetings site.
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