17 Jul

Fire Safety Review Gives Westfield House the ‘All Clear’

West Street Alt
Westfield House towering above Bridgwater’s West Street since 1965

Sedgemoor District Council’s Corporate Scrutiny committee, under the chairmanship of Westover Councillor Brian Smedley, has reviewed the Council’s response to the Grenfell Tower fire disaster in its own hi-rise properties and has concluded that all necessary steps have been taken to re-assure tenants and where there was cause for concern measures are being introduced to improve the situation.

On 14 June at about 1am, a fire started on the 4th floor of the Grenfell Tower block in London housing some 600 people. Grenfell Tower had 24 floors with 6 flats per floor, an alarm system that worked and the Fire Brigade in immediate attendance – yet at least 80 died – most of them in 23 of the blocks 129 flats Continue reading “Fire Safety Review Gives Westfield House the ‘All Clear’”

4 Jul

Police Respond to Town Centre ASB

Binford Police

Following an angry meeting at the Bridgwater Town Development Forum this week where residents and town centre traders made their feelings known about the level of anti social behaviour the Police have responded swiftly with an increased and targeted presence in the key troublespot.

PC Dom Bryant was on patrol along Fore street from early this morning and had stationed his Mobile Police Station (his van) on Binford Place, identified by residents as the  main point of concern. Continue reading “Police Respond to Town Centre ASB”

3 Jul

Bridgwater Docks Gala a success: But does it open the lock gates to a Maritime future?

What future for the waterways of Bridgwater?

This weekend the sun shone and the crowds turned out to support the third annual Bridgwater Docks Gala, making use of the wonderful public space that connects the River Parrett to the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal.

Stalls surrounded the 19th century dockside, food and drink flowed, music played and dancers danced while community groups as varied as the Civic Society, the Sea Cadets, Bridgwater Flower Show and Burnham on Sea Pilot gigs, vied for attention. Carnival clubs raised funds with sideshows, fairground rides surrounded Bowerings seed mill and boats offered rides around the dock. In the last couple of years some active campaigners have been building up the possibility of Bridgwater re-establishing it’s water-based heritage and this has been enthusiastically backed by the Town Council with a view to opening up the docks and therefore the canal and in the process penning water in order to get the river once more navigable, and the thriving Docks Gala is testament to that impetus. Continue reading “Bridgwater Docks Gala a success: But does it open the lock gates to a Maritime future?”

30 Jun

Town Development Forum Puts Policing in the Spotlight

The Town’s Charter Hall is packed to hear what the Police have to say for themselves

Delegates from Bridgwater Community Groups as diverse and yet as unified as the Trades Union Council, Churches Together, The Civic Society, the Senior Citizens Forum joined resident groups, traders and inquisitive  members of the public at the latest Town Development Forum, which had decided this month to focus on Policing in Bridgwater. To emphasize the importance of the topic, the Town Council had assembled a top table featuring Sue Mountstephens – Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC),Lisa Simpson – Chief Inspector Neighbourhood Policing and Joe Piscina – Sergeant Bridgwater Beat.

Town Council Leader Cllr Brian Smedley (Westover)  welcomed everyone to the Town Development Forum, in particular the invited guests from the Avon and Somerset Constabulary and said “The Police regularly attend every one of our town council meetings as the first item on the agenda and we recognise that we have a GOOD working relationship with them. The main issues that come up every month are i) anti social behaviour in particular large groups of youth often in the town centre ii)Police resources and response times and iii)the affect of the new Hinkley Point development on policing-the large numbers of new young workers into the town and whether resources can cope. However, this meeting is for delegates and the public to have their say and hear for themselves what the Police are doing about it. Crucially we have with us today the key operational Police officers in the town and the Police and Crime Commissioner herself.” Continue reading “Town Development Forum Puts Policing in the Spotlight”

28 Jun

On this Day in History: June 23rd 1957 Bridgwater Twins with La Ciotat

June 23rd 1957 La Ciotat

Twinning, as a concept, originated after the First World War, as an idea to bring peoples closer together. That didn’t work. After the subsequent  carnage of World War Two it gained an additional impetus. And nowhere more so than in France;-occupied, divided and devastated by German Nazis, home grown collaborators and fought over by armies from all over the world. It was no wonder that France took the lead in seeking out twinning partners all across Europe and to this day the ‘Jumelage’ budgets from town halls across that country are generous and well supported. It was into this progressive, idealistic, forward thinking atmosphere that Bridgwater Borough Councillor Oscar Coates found himself one day in 1957 whilst on holiday in the South of France.

La Ciotat was a small port on the Mediterranean coast near Marseilles with a working shipyard and a bay which had seen a minor battle during the Liberation of France in 1944 which saw US and British ships sink a German merchant steamer while the airforce dropped 300 dummy paratroopers in the north of the town. This was of course a diversion to the main landings taking place along the nearby Cote d’Azur.  The people of La Ciotat saw the battle, the German ship sink and the British destroyer rescuing 169 of the floundering sailors. Continue reading “On this Day in History: June 23rd 1957 Bridgwater Twins with La Ciotat”