Bridgwater Docks – the focus of increased Police patrols
A clamp-down on fishing and anti-social behaviour associated with late night drinking is the focus this week in a the press release put out by Somerset County Council which highlights their co-ordinated action at Bridgwater Docks along with the Police. “While this is welcome, it’s hardly the multi-agency response we’d expect and fails to recognise the hard work being put in by many other agencies and individuals who are working hard to reclaim the docks for the town and the residents” says Westover Ward councillor Brian Smedley.
Whilst Bridgwater Town Council and Sedgemoor District Council have been monitoring the docks for sometime and have been supporting initiatives to clean them up, regain ownership and make them habitable, both appear to have been left out of the current initiative. Continue reading “Focus on the Docks”
At a special meeting at the Town Hall today EDF reps confirmed that works would start on the final phasing of the Taunton road/Broadway junction works on 16th of June and with the newly agreed night-working, St Mary street would be open by the 29th. The end is now finally in sight for the longsuffering town centre traders and Bridgwater’s commuters!
The meeting, chaired by Mayor of Bridgwater Cllr Leigh Redman, confirmed that the North section works to the junction would start on 16th June with planing and slot cutting, which EDF admit will be ‘quite noisy’, and with the bulk of the disruption stretching from 7pm through the night until 6 in the morning but with the noisiest parts finishing by 11pm. Diversions during this phase will be in place and will direct people down the NDR. This phase will last until the 21st June.
The second phase of the operation will see the Southern Section works repeating the same procedure between the 21st and 29th June with official diversions sending people off via Alpha Centaurii , although in reality local people will soon find ways around it including the M5 and various backlanes.
Residents kept informed throughout
Cllr Leigh Redman chairing today’s meeting which confirmed the contentious Taunton road/Broadway roadworks will be finished sooner than planned.
300 letters have been sent out to residents in the vicinity as requested by Town Councillors at the last meeting and a second drop is imminent and will inform people of key numbers to call and the key times and dates. With the resurfacing works finished by the end of June the new lights will start to come into commission in early July. The routes will continue to be accessible to pedestrians and cyclists throughout.
Chairing the meeting, Cllr Redman said “The Town Council are glad to have found a way forward which has sped up the works and will bring the disruption to an end sooner rather than later.”
Blake Gardens , Bridgwater’s principal town centre park, has been the focus of a ‘Multi-Agency’ response to perceived multiple incidents of anti-social behaviour there in the public’s eyes over the last few months. At todays meeting, called by Sedgemoor’s Community Safety department, they believe they’ve finally turned a corner due to a high level focus on the area and increased vigilance. But has it worked, will the public accept that it has and is this a model for targeting areas of anti-social behaviour elsewhere?
Westover ward Town and District councillors Brian Smedley and Kathy Pearce attended the meeting along with representatives from Sedgemoor, the Police, the Fire Rescue service, Clean Surroundings, Parks and open Spaces, The Library service, the Town Council and the CCTV unit.
At the Spring meeting the Police had agreed that Blake Gardens was a priority for them and as a result of a zero tolerance approach had made a key arrest. They had continued with high visibility patrols on a daily basis and were now operating a new ‘Beat Surgery’ in the library.
Zero Tolerance across the board
Blake Gardens
This policy of equal treatment of all incidents as a priority extended across a whole range of services and included alcohol consumption, ASB, uncontrolled animals, legal highs, litter and noise.
As a result of this policy reported incidents had dropped off dramatically and the agencies involved were in agreement that a corner had been turned and the public should feel confident that they could enjoy the park again.
Cllr Pearce said “This multi-agency approach seems to work and shows that extra vigilance and reporting incidents pays off and now we’ve seen some clear improvements and some problems solved. I’m sure this is an approach that can be extended to other areas.”
Cllr Smedley added “Public perception and statistics don’t always match up and so the next step will be to encourage people’s confidence in the measures taken and to return to the park. It’s also important to note that the good weather hasn’t really kicked in yet and so it’s right that the agencies are not calling it a day and terminating the project but are ready to swing back into action should the situation escalate again. What is very positive is the focus by the agencies on reclaiming the park for the public with activities and amenities such as the extensive lighting programe bid for the riverside footpath under the CIM fund which will include the underpass and the proposals for further family friendly enhancement.”
Riverside footpath could see new lighting
Family Friendly Enhancements
Further measures proposed for the park include hula hooping sessions organised by Sedgemoor’s ‘Healthy Lifestyles’ officer, the possibility of a ‘green gym’ and the creation of a barbecue zone for families to prevent wildfires as occurred recently. Dog wardens have maintained an appearance ensuring dogs are kept on leads, CCTV had played it’s part in identifying potential incidents and relevant signage has been erected to warn of the penalties for alcohol and ASB.
The next Beat Surgery will be held at the Library on June 10th at 10 till noon. The Police continue to advise people to use the 101 number to report and log incidents.
Blake Gardens entrance next to the Library
The riverside path that could see some street lighting
Blake Gardens with Labour club in background
entering Blake gardens along the riverside path from the Broadway underpass
Blake Gardens needs a re-vamp
Anti Social Behaviour signage
The central area where groups often gather for a drink
New Mayor of Bridgwater Leigh Redman (in jeans and chains) opens the Town Annual meeting by welcoming deputy council leader Kathy Pearce (Westover)
At its Annual Town Meeting , chaired by new Mayor cllr Leigh Redman (Dunwear South) , the new Bridgwater Town Council laid out its plans for the years ahead and opened up the floor of a packed meeting for the people to have their say on the future of their town.
New Town Council Leader Brian Smedley (Westover) introduced the meeting with a discussion on the future of Northgate, the main issue held over from the last Council. Cllr Smedley said he had met with SDC Corporate Director Doug Bamsey at the earliest opportunity after the elections to put to him “..the commitments made at the Special meeting of March 24th and the case for an open book approach to any plans for post-Tesco Northgate that had to involve the people of Bridgwater” and had been met with a favourable response.
Public Engagement on Northgate
“The first point to make is that there is no longer a financial imperative for Sedgemoor to gain a Capital Receipt for the sale of Northgate. The compensation deal with Tesco effectively paid off the new swimming pool and the land remains in Local Authority ownership. It’s important though to note that this Land is owned partly by SDC and partly by SCC and whilst they have the legal rights to dispose of it as they wish they both need to realise that they are custodians on behalf of the people of Bridgwater”.
Cllr Smedley continued “It’s therefore important that we decide what we want on there and speak with one voice –which is why Bridgwater Town Council, as the closest voice to the people of Bridgwater, needs to take the lead in this. Our position remains firstly to maintain the green space, secondly to urge a Leisure & Recreation led usage and finally that this is complimentary not damaging to the existing town centre” Continue reading “New Town Council promises ‘Open-ness, Community Engagement and a Strong Voice for Bridgwater’”
Artist’s impression of the proposed ‘Hope Inn’ development
Westover Ward Councillors Kathy Pearce and Brian Smedley, have formally objected to plans for a housing development on the site of the troubled Hope Inn on Bridgwater’s Taunton road.
Grounds for objection are as follows;-
Traffic generation and road safety: The proposed development is on a road which is already heavily congested at certain times of the day. It is the main route into Bridgwater from the south and the Morrison’s junction is already a bottleneck. There is no scope to widen the road and we remain unconvinced that the changes to the sequencing of the lights will provide enough benefit to alleviate the impact of the heavy traffic using this route. Therefore a development of this size will only exacerbate an already difficult problem. It should be noted that South Bridgwater has endured a disproportionate increase in development over the past few years, bringing with it huge increases in traffic – the Stockmoor and Willstock estates, the Gateway and the Hinkley C traffic. The Paragon laundry site just across the road has also been granted planning for a similar number of houses. This combined with heavy traffic and footfall from the nearby schools, especially Robert Blake, which is close by raises the potential for accidents to occur, especially if cars are manoeuvring in and out of tight parking spaces, across the pavement on to an extremely busy road.
Proposed ground plan for the 22 appartments along the busy Taunton road
Impact on neighbours: We believe that the size and scale of this development is overbearing relative to the size of the site and its close proximity to neighbouring properties.
Effect on landscape: This proposal would replace a well loved, attractive, building. Therefore, there is an expectation that the design would be one which enhanced the area and added interest on one of the busiest routes into the town. Instead, as stated above – it is of over-bearing design which resembles army barracks. We therefore believe that it will have a detrimental effect on the landscape.
Impact upon the character of the area: The documentation claims that the design is in keeping with the local landscape, but the adjacent houses are two storey and parts of the proposed application are three storey and, in our opinion, the design is not in any way fitting with the adjacent properties. There appears to be little thought to the appropriateness of design or landscaping. Instead, the developers appear to be cramming as many units into one space as they legally can.
Westover Town Councillor Pat Morley who sits on the Town Planning Panel adds “The Town Council Planning panel also objected to these plans. If this goes ahead it will be an opportunity lost to replace a landmark building of attractive appearance with something of equal significance and of architectural merit on this “gateway” site. ”
26th May, was the deadline for objections and the application can be viewed here.
