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Businesses welcome changes to motorway junction

Mark Smith
BBC News, Gloucestershire
Google A view of M5 J10 from above showing fields around the side and the roads leading to itGoogle
The £229m scheme will see Junction 10 have full access in both directions

Businesses close to a motorway junction, which is being upgraded to having full access in both directions, are welcoming the £229m scheme.

The Secretary of State for Transport gave approval for the project at the start of June, with work due to start in early 2026.

It will allow traffic to and leave the M5 in Gloucestershire at junction 10 both northbound and southbound.

Ruth Powell from Elmwick Camping said her customers have to make the journey to them "through an awful lot of traffic" because they can't currently re the motorway where they left it.

Google A photo of a road sign, which reads "the south west, gloucester, staverton, cheltenham"Google
The £229m scheme will see Junction 10 have full access in both directions

She added visitors coming from the north will most appreciate the improvements to the junction.

"Getting off at Junction 10 is really easy for them.

"But when they want to go southbound they have to either drive back up to Tewkesbury to Junction 9 and then turn around, or go down to Junction 11 [through Cheltenham]."

Michael Cassidy, director of nearby brewery Clavell and Hind, says there will be short-term pain for long-term gain.

"We feel it will be a good thing for our business in the long run," he said.

"It will help transport links into the local area. Obviously there will be some short term disruption but we're quite positive about it. The roads around here definitely need some improvement."

As well as the motorway junction upgrade, the scheme also includes widening the A4019 Tewkesbury Road, and a new link road connecting the A4019 to the B4634 in west Cheltenham.

Cheltenham Borough Councillor Alisha Lewis says this is vital for the 5,000 new houses that are due to built in the area.

"We mustn't just think about the residents who currently live in Cheltenham but all the residents who will move into and become residents of Cheltenham, like the Golden Valley development.

"It is a fantastic new neighbourhood with great new homes, great new schools and great new facilities, but without the transport infrastructure it simply wouldn't work.

"Junction 10 is a big part of the puzzle," he added.

However Charmaine Smith, the owner of the Uckington Layby J10 breakfast van, says the scheme will mean the end of her business, which she has run with her husband for more than a decade.

"It's our livelihood. It's how we pay our mortgage," she said.

"To be just suddenly told one day it's going to go, we can't just close the business down and go elsewhere. We've been here for the last 14 years and built up a customer base."

Public information events are set to be held during the summer, with construction getting underway from spring 2026. Completion, the council said, is expected in 2028.

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