Residents in Bridgwater are being invited to have a look at their new Police Station on Express Park ahead of it’s opening next month. The choice of site , on the outskirts of the town, could be seen as controversial.
Westover Councillor Brian Smedley, who has already visited the new station earlier this year, said “ The Present Bridgwater Police Station was opened in 1966 on Northgate in the Westover ward and there is obvious concern at the loss of a town centre site but we have been assured that the Police will still maintain some kind of base in the town centre itself. The Bridgwater move is part of a centralising policy the Police are putting into place across the region and Bridgwater is part of an experiment which also includes Keynsham, near Bath and Patchway, in Bristol. In that sense Bridgwater’s fortunate in being chosen out of all the other Somerset locations. However it does have the look of a Fort Apache about it and there is a real issue about maintaining a town centre presence” Continue reading “New Police Station to be Open to the Public on 3rd September”
Bridgwater Town Centre Action Plan discussed at Full Council
Bridgwater Town Council this week looked at two key action plans from Westover Councillors for the regeneration of the Town Centre and also of the Bridgwater to Taunton Canal and Docks. Cllr Brian Smedley, who brought the items to the Council’s agenda, explains the background.
“The Town Centre is the focal point not only of the Westover Ward but also of Bridgwater and it’s success is key to the town’s survival. Following a recent walkabout with members of the ‘Town team’ and other influential figures for the future of the town’s economic development I drafted a report which was put to the town council meeting on August 7th as an ‘Action Plan’.”
The report highlighted the need to define the Town Centre and recognise how it had changed in the last 30 years when at one time it stretched from North street to the Railway Station. It urged the importance of an interesting streetscape including targeted and consistent cleaning, relevant signage and street furniture and tackling the scourge of empty shops. Key areas described as ‘Grot Spots’ were identified as priority points for action notably the Penel Orlieu ‘Classic Buildings’ in Westover and the former East Quay Medical Centre site in Eastover which had fallen into neglect and is currently earmarked for an Asda Petrol station.
Town Centre Action Plan
West Quay looking like the Parisian left bank since pedestrianisation
The report also pointed to the positive achievements in recent years such as the pedestrianisation of West Quay where a virtual ‘rive gauche’ atmosphere was emerging with restaurants ,bars and takeaways mingling in a cosmopolitan community environment alongside hairdressers, a popular record shop and a tattooist .
Roger Smith of the Town Team, which had developed from the ‘Bridgwater Retail Initiative’ , addressed the report in his presentation, supporting it’s conclusions and explaining how the Time Team was working to achieve the recommendations and in particular urged the need for Flexibility in planning decisions to encourage enterprise and highlighted key projects such as the annual ‘Snowflakes and Shopping’ event, scheduled for November 21st this year.
Roger also explained how the use of ‘shop jackets’ and other initiatives that built on activity in the streetscape had worked and how this was one example of how the Town Team was actively promoting Bridgwater which had included such events as ‘Independents day’ and being awarded funds from Mary Portas for this. He said “We intend to make the Action Plan a key part of our agenda”.
Cllr John Turner (Hamp) said “The main problem for the town centre is building these out of town supermarkets and this has been going on for 30 years”
Cllr Graham Granter (Fairfax) said “ A major problem is that the town centre retail units are too small, the whole process is at the mercy of market forces and the shop rents are too high.”
Cllr Mick Lerry (Victoria) urged the “adoption of the report” and proposed “looking into dedicated funding streams from the Town Council”.
Cllr Smedley said “The crucial point now is to keep an eye on what needs to be done and what is being done.”
Looking into the Canal
The Bridgwater and Taunton Canal as it passes through Westover.
The second key Westover area initiative on the agenda was the plans for the Canal and docks. Cllr Smedley had recently been nominated to the Somerset Waterways Advisory Committee and had set up a meeting between Inland Waterways Association and Sedgemoor to look into plans for the canal. He said “The canal is a major unused resource for Bridgwater. Pretty much 90% of it runs through the Westover ward and there is an active force of volunteers eager to dedicate themselves to bring it into use, so as a Town Council we need to support that”.
Bob Abbott, Chairman of the West Country branch of the IWA addressed the meeting at the invitation of Cllr Smedley and asked for the Town Councils support with several key initiatives, particularly highlighting the work of Westover residents Mike Slade and Pat Robinson in co-ordinating volunteers and promoting the canal. “We would like to see signage along the celebration mile take account of Bridgwater’s maritime heritage as it links the railway station and the docks. We would like to be able to install a trailer at the docks as an information point and possible tourist information centre. We want to organise a 21st anniversary waterways festival next year to commemorate the re-opening of the canal and we’d welcome Town Council delegates on the SWAC committee.”
Cllr Smedley urged support for all of these measures including pointing the IWA to the relevant funding channels including the Finance ctte and ward grants. “The Docks area is divided between Westover and Victoria, most of the canal then goes through Westover and a section touches Hamp as it leaves the town. There is surely opportunity for joint funding there.”
Volunteers at work on the dock. Encouragement for these groups is crucial.
Cllr Turner insisted “We need to be clear that we support jointly funded projects with other organisations and can’t fund these projects on our own.”
Cllr Dave Loveridge (Eastover) asked “What is the preferable option for any future barrage on the Parrett?”
Bob Abbott replied “We would like to see the river navigable again and so would prefer the inclusion of a ‘lock’ as part of any barrier.”
Cllr Adrian Moore (Hamp) pointed out “The new bridge on the NDR surely puts paid to that idea.”
Mr Abbott said he felt there were ‘ ways of overcoming that’.
Cllr Ian Tucker (Dunwear) said “I’ve always felt the Canal is a great opportunity for tourism and we should support this.”
The Westover proposals were absorbed and action points taken forward by the meeting, which on this occasion was totally devoid of Tory councillors. Well, there’s only 2 out of 16 anyway.
Environment Agency staff in Wessex are prepared for the high tides expected from Sunday 10 to Friday 15 August, coupled with the potential arrival of Tropical Storm Bertha on Sunday 10 August.
In preparation for this there will be increased activity on the River Parrett banks over the next few days. The areas in particular aredownstream of Northmoor Pumping Station around Newhouse farm up to
Burrowbridge. This is a precautionary and proactive approach – the highest tides predicted are a metre lower than the highest tide witnessed earlier this year.
Current forecasts from the Met Office show that we are expecting Tropical Storm Bertha to impact the south west on Sunday, although its track and impacts are still not clearly defined. We are also seeing a set of high tides starting on Sunday evening, peaking on Tuesday (12 August). We will be deploying sandbags at those locations which pose the greatest risk, based on last winter’s flood events. The work will be carried out by our operational teams and our contractors, Team Van Oord and Land & Water.
*THE VERY WORST EFFECT WE ARE EXPECTING IS TO SEE A SHORT PERIOD OF OVER-TOPPING IN LIMITED LOCATIONS AT THE PEAK OF THE HIGH TIDES. *
The latest forecast from the Met Office is that we could see 30mm of rain falling in 3 hours on Sunday which could lead to surface water
flooding.
As well as deploying sandbags, all of our pumping stations and sluices/gates/penstocks are fully operational. We are also carrying out
pre-tide inspections of critical tidal defences as well as on-tide inspections and we have additional staff on standby, if needed.
As with all tidal and rainfall risks, we will continually monitor the ever-changing weather information received from the Met Office and the
National Flood Forecasting Centre to ensure that we are fully prepared.
We have already activated plans, and are in discussion with local authorities and emergency services. Our staff are also ready to provide
warnings to communities where we understand there may be a risk of flooding.
We provide flood warnings based on the latest information and collect real time information to verify flooding should it occur using our team
along the coast, this data is then used to improve our understand of risk as we continually seek to improve our flood warning service.
Recently completed and ongoing remedial works along the coast and river systems are also constantly checked during these times of greatest flood risk and contingency plans are in place to react as necessary.
Our Incident Hotline phone number is 0800 80 70 60. If you have any concerns during the high tides, please call this number and ask to speak to the Flood Incident Duty Officer for Somerset.
Like everywhere in Britain, Tuesday 4th August 1914 in Bridgwater was a day of excitement and anticipation as the Nation waited to see if the German Army of Kaiser Wilhelm would obey the British Government’s ultimatum to withdraw from Belgium by 11pm. In fact, this war, which had been a long time coming and pretty much expected by everyone, wasn’t going to be stopped, even at the last minute by anyone in any country saying ‘hang about, this isn’t going to end well’. The mincer had been turned on, and it wasn’t going to be turned off until some 17 million people had died, 8,000 of them from Somerset and 380 from Bridgwater.
The War Memorial in King’s Square was erected in 1924 and bears the names of the people of the town who fought and died telling the story of the war and Bridgwater’s role in it.
Bridgwater in 1914 on the Eve of War
In 1914 there were about 16,000 inhabitants in Bridgwater and the town was basically either Eastover or Westover, depending on which side of the river you lived. There were no vast housing estates in Hamp or Sydenham, the rich of the town lived mainly in the villas of Northfields or out of the town in Wembdon whilst the Westover working class lived in the slum courts spreading from West street to Market street, or in newer build houses in Blacklands, Camden rd and Victoria rd. Continue reading “On This Day in History -Tuesday 4th August 1914: ‘The Day War Broke Out’”
Tuesday 22nd July 1645 and Bridgwater was in flames.
On Tuesday 22nd July 1645 Bridgwater was in flames after an 11 day siege, surrounded by Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army and under constant bombardment from Parliamentary cannons positioned on Hamp Hill. The townswomen had been allowed to leave the town ,the Roundhead army prepared to storm the castle and Bridgwater was on the verge of complete destruction.
The Civil War was the defining moment in the English Revolution and Bridgwater played a key part in it. By disposition a Parliamentary leaning town of merchants and providing one of the Revolution’s great military leaders-Robert Blake, it had been (as is always the case with Bridgwater) caught up in a sea of Royalist Blue everywhere else around the West Country. In 1643 the Royalist Edmund Wyndham , from the stately home of Orchard Wyndham on Exmoor, had occupied the town against the wishes of the townsfolk and made himself Governor of Bridgwater’s powerful castle holding down the population. On occasion it was noted that Wyndham ‘hung any troublesome locals from the signpost of the George Inn’. Wyndham had been a Bridgwater MP before the Civil War (in the days when nobody actually ‘elected’ their MPs) and had opted for working his way ‘in’ as a lacky to the autocratic King Charles 1st with the aid of his quite barmy wife Christabella, who had been enrolled as nursemaid to the baby Prince Charles. Continue reading “On this day in History JULY 22nd 1645 –‘Bridgwater Under Siege’”
