Cllr Smedley along with 2 passing strangers officially opens the Dockside Dog bin and confirm “it’s already been used”
Earlier this year , Westover councillors responded to residents requests for more dog waste bins by working with Clean Surroundings and Bridgwater Town Council to access a couple of extra bins for the ward.
The original campaign called for a bin in the vicinity of Manley Gardens and resulted in the one currently on the canal access path off Old Taunton road. However, with a second bin on offer, councillors then carried out a survey of ALL dog bins in the ward , identified gaps in provision and put them to the vote as part of an online survey.
A satisfied customer
After an exciting tied result for first place the top 3 choices – Morrisons, West street and the Docks, were all put to one final vote with the nail biting result that the ‘Docks had it’.
Councillor Brian Smedley said “In many ways it was a bit like Britains Got Talent, the X Factor and Big Brother. Although we stopped short of getting Ant and Dec involved.”
Sedgemoor and the Police take decisive action against noisy neighbours on Westover’s Taunton road
Anyone passing along Taunton road on Friday evening – maybe taking their time to get through the Broadway EDF roadworks – will have seen a line of Police vehicles and a TV crew on some major operation. In fact it was the final act in Sedgemoors long struggle to deal with the ongoing anti social behaviour issues emanating from one household along the A38.
Sedgemoor successfully applied for a Closure Order on 40 Taunton Road, Bridgwater on Friday, June 19, 2015. The Police and SDC officers gave evidence to the Court at 1400 hrs, chronicling the 2-year history of anti-social behaviour; threatening behaviour, threats of violence towards neighbours; unsanitary conditions within the house; two previous seizures of noise equipment. Both the Council and the Police have tried to work with the occupants and neighbours to sort out the problems, but this has proved unsuccessful.
Action popular with neighbours
Workers move in to board up windows
The Closure Order was enacted on the same day as issue to protect the neighbours from any retaliation from the occupants; to ensure the occupiers do not have any opportunity to barricade themselves in or take other action over that weekend at the house. SDC appointed bailiffs to enforce the Order, given the previous behaviour and threats by the occupants towards the neighbours, Police and Council staff.
Adrian Gardner, SDC’s Group Manager for Environment and Housing said “This is drastic action for the Council to take, but the situation has become increasingly intolerable for the neighbours.”
PC Jennie Atkinson said: “It is our role to prevent a breach of the peace while the District Council carries out the eviction. There has been a long history of community tensions due to the noise coming from the property and the poor condition of the house.Unfortunately, it has come to the stage where the council have had to issue full closure order because the house is environmentally unsafe. The occupants were offered a housing appointment prior to the eviction notice.”
The property is being boarded up and noise equipment removed. The occupants have left the property.A total of 58 items of separate music/noise related equipment such as turntables, speakers, amplifiers and TVs were seized from the property in September and December 2014. The occupants were fined £5,160 in relation to the last seizure and breach of a noise abatement notice.
A Sedgemoor spokesperson said “This operation demonstrates Sedgemoor District Council’s willingness, where appropriate, to use its full range of enforcement powers to tackle this sort of anti-social and nuisance behaviour which can seriously affect the quality of people’s lives.”
Westover councillor Kathy Pearce joins a group of ‘Friends of the Meads’ on a ramble.
A few short years ago the area of private swampland between Hamp, Westover and Durleigh, known locally as ‘The Meads’ was brought into public ownership by Sedgemoor District Council in a landswap with Summerfield Homes. The result was the new Housing development south of Durleigh road, which wasn’t terribly popular with some residents and the shaving off of a corner of the Fairfield to provide an access road (opposed by the Town Council). But on the positive side the people of Bridgwater now have access to a swathe of land where the biodiversity can be protected, people can wander freely and a welcome addition to the town’s threatened green spaces can be celebrated.
This week Sedgemoor held a nature ramble for potential ‘friends’ of the Meads. A kind of ‘site visit’ where people can start to think what can and can’t be done with the site.
One day all this will be..well, pretty much as it is now. Protecting and enhancing our natural resources with SDC ecologist Peter Grainger
Led by Sedgemoor’s chief ecologist Peter Grainger, the group now plans to hold a series of days they are calling ‘Bioblitz’ events. Pete explains “You can become a wildlife explorer for the day and discover what’s living right on your doorstep by joining us at our first Bioblitz events at The Meads Eco Park in Bridgwater. You can enjoy one or both of the two free guided walks around The Meads Eco Park on Tuesday 23rd June. We are offering two different Bioblitz’s on the 23rd – one during the day starting at 1:00pm and the other starting at 09:00pm. The meeting point for both events will be the Westfield Street Café, West Street, Bridgwater (outside Westfield Church) or you can join us on-site. Please make sure that you wear suitable clothing for the terrain and weather conditions and bring a torch for the evening event! Children supervised by an adult are welcome to both events, although we would recommend only young people over the age of 14 attend the evening event.”
What’s a Bioblitz
Town Councillor for Wyndham , Liz Leavy, discusses the wide variety of wildlife options in the Meads. Apart from dogs.
A Sedgemoor District Council spokeswoman said ‘ A Bioblitz is a period of ecological surveying in an attempt to record all living species within a designated area. A group including our Ecologist, Friends of The Meads and volunteers will conduct an informal field study over the two time periods to identify as many plants, animals and other organisms as possible. The day walk around The Meads, which is managed by Sedgemoor District Council, will look at the birds, insects, plants and other daytime organisms with the night-time event looking to identify bat and moth species. You don’t need to be a wildlife expert just come along with a willingness to learn and explore’.
To find out more about The Meads Eco Park and any future events please email community.services@sedgemoor.gov.uk, call 01278 435435 or visit: www.sedgemoor.gov.uk and search Meads Eco Park.
Town Council Leaders set out bold new plan for Bridgwater
Bridgwater Town Council voted tonight to adopt the Forward Plan presented by the majority Labour group which reviews the council’s structures, increases opportunities for public engagement and opens the door for wider consultation.
The plan ,based on the Labour Party ‘Manifesto for Bridgwater’ which was circulated around the town during the recent election which saw the party retain control of the council 14.2, was drawn up by Westover councillors Brian Smedley and Kathy Pearce, who are now Leader and Deputy Leader of the new council.
The Forward plan commits the council to 5 top priorities;-
1. Leisure facilities for Northgate & the establishment of a Town Development Forum to ensure maximum community participation in the process 2. Bridgwater Town Centre , it’s protection, enhancement and development 3. Taking forward the Meads project & preserving and enhancing Community Green spaces 4. Ensuring full access to Community Impact Mitigation funding for Bridgwater from the Hinkley point development 5. Maximising Employment and Training opportunities & pursuing Local Labour Force agreements
Town Council Leader Brian Smedley said “ The Forward Plan was drawn up over the past year at a series of Labour Party meetings and based on campaigns supported by the people of Bridgwater in recent years and which had been backed up every inch of the way by the Town Council. It lays out a framework for public involvement in taking the town forward and it sets up a system of monitoring the work as it develops. All the targets of the Forward Plan are timetabled into the years programme. On top of this we want maximum community involvement, open-ness at meetings and structures that provide opportunities for the talented people of this town and their ideas to play their full part. As part of this we are taking the bold step of holding out the hand of friendship to Sedgemoor District Council to work together on our priorities and genuinely include the people of Bridgwater in future plans. We will set up Public Forums that empower local people and focus on issues that matter to the people of the town and seek to find ways to bring about change that benefits everybody in the challenging years ahead.”
Popular Bridgwater Beat Bobby Tex Freeman has launched another major community initiative in the West street area and this time it’s a new mural alongside his famous West Street Garden, which was opened to the public last year.
Tex said “Homes in Sedgemoor kindly gave permission for the wall to be rendered and Clean Surroundings cleared the area of weeds and ivy for us. I arranged to get the wall rendered through Dave Howe (Samson) which was paid for by remaining funding from the garden project. I also plan to put another seating table in the garden in the future to complete my garden project.”
Involving the kids
On Friday 5th June 2015 Sophie CHAPMAN (art teacher) and pupils from Haygrove school painted the winning design and they were also joined by children from Westover Green, St Mary’s and St Josephs Schools who helped paint.
Tex adds “I held another competition with Haygrove School where I gave prizes for the top 3 designs, which were as follows £50, £30 and £20 Amazon vouchers.”
