County Transport Boss says “Give West Street crossroads a chance“

heres harveyOn 19th August , in response to widespread anger at the County Council’s changes to West Street crossroads, Westover councillor Brian Smedley wrote to County Highways supremo Harvey Siggs raising people’s concerns and asking him to address them.

The momentum of criticism was maintained with follow ups from Town Clerk Alan Hurford and Tory Councillor Gill Slocombe.

On 10th September the following response finally came back from the elusive Mendip councillor.

“Thank you for your email regarding the refurbishment at Broadway/ Penel Orlieu junction, Bridgwater. We are sorry to hear you that there is considerable discontent regarding the changes to the junction, however I am sure you will appreciate the junction is still under construction and not fully operational.

Within the early stages of the design process a number of options were developed in order to improve capacity at the junction whilst also providing controlled pedestrian/cycle crossing facilities. The option progressed provides the highest capacity improvement possible whilst incorporating an additional controlled Toucan crossing on West Street, an upgraded crossing on North Street and provides both pedestrian and cycle facilities plus retention of the pedestrian crossing on Broadway.

Through data obtained from traffic surveys, the previous lane allocation on Penel Orlieu was unbalanced with significantly more vehicles in the nearside lane performing the ahead and left movements than in the right lane. This provided a ratio of approximately 75% Ahead and Left : 25% Right and therefore traffic would queue within the Ahead and Left Lane. Under the new lane arrangement the traffic flows will be more balanced with a ratio of 43% : 57%. This effectively means that more traffic can pass through the junction and therefore capacity is improved.

Temporary road signage has been installed to inform motorists of the revised lane arrangement and as a result of the initial confusion ‘Left Turn Only’, with two additional arrows as you exit the roundabout, will be painted on the carriageway to reinforce this. As with all new schemes there will inevitably be a settling in period where motorists will have to revise their previous driving pattern to accommodate the revised lane structure.

The junction design has been through a formal Road Safety Audit (RSA) process and as with all new or refurbished junctions, there will be a Stage 3 RSA within one month of completion, where any safety issues will be raised and addressed. It is common practice to have a 3 month ‘settling in period’, after this time a Stage 4 RSA is carried out and again any issues will be raised and addressed.

I trust that once the junction and 3 month ‘settling in period’ is complete you will see an improvement.

I hope the above has answered the queries you have had and I would like to thank you for your interest in this matter.

Yours sincerely

Harvey Siggs
Cabinet Member for Highways & Transport

Labour Councillors insist on Review within 3 Months

Labour County Councillor for Bridgwater South, Leigh Redman, has asked the County Highways department to review the operation after 3 months with the option to revert to it‘s previous format should it prove not to be an improvement.

Westover councillor and Mayor of Bridgwater, Steve Austen said “It is always of great concern when ‘the average person in the street‘ can see that this has been a monumental step backwards with increased traffic delays but the ‘professionals‘ are unable to accept they have got it wrong. Is there a guarantee that once the three month settling in period is completed that changes will be undertaken to restore a junction that was not broke and did not need fixing?“

West Street: New Works put pressure on Fair Preparations

smed fair
It’s Fairtime again. Westover councillor Brian Smedley raises issues of disruption caused by the new Fairfield Housing development and the Penel Orlieu junction with SDC Officer Nigel Osborne.

Bridgwater’s historic St Matthew’s Fair brings yearly disruption to the lives of the people of the West street area of Westover and at today’s meeting of Agencies and Residents to look at preparations it was clear that a further degree of displacement will occur due to the loss of the adjoining field used for parking and the construction of the new access road

Sedgemoor’s legal officer Nigel Osborne holds annual meetings to review arrangements for the Fair told those attending today that this would be his last year due to transfer of responsibilities from SDC legal department to SDC Community. His replacement, Rob Semple, was also in attendance as were representatives from the Police, Fire and rescue services, St Johns Ambulance, Trading standards, Homes in Sedgemoor, Environmental health and the Showman’s Guild along with ward councillors from the parts of Bridgwater affected, Westover and Wyndham.

Nigel told the meeting that the Fair would be held from 24th to 27th September and that West Street would be closed from 9am on Tuesday 23rd September . SDC would run an operations centre at West Bow House and said he could be contacted throughout on 07876131027. He further pointed out that the Showman’s Guild 10 year contract had been renegotiated and that SDC had confirmed it would continue the same format of the Fair as usual including a funfair on St Matthews Field, a one day market on the Wednesday and street trading along West street.

New Development Brings New Challenges

SDC will put barriers in place to attempt alleviate non-resident parking problems
SDC will put barriers in place to attempt alleviate non-resident parking problems

However, some things were presenting a challenge, notably the pressure from Housing Developments on the periphery of the Fairfield itself. This had led to the Showman’s Guild seeking an alternative location for the parking of their major and sizeable fleet of transport vehicles. Nigel accepted that this still hadn’t been concluded satisfactorily despite there being only 3 weeks to go to the fair. A proposal to locate the fleet on the former Splash car park was objected to by Westover Councillor Brian Smedley who said “The Splash site is not suitable for large transporters, it will be a nuisance to residents in Blacklands and Mount street who will be in close proximity, the access is not appropriate for such sizeable transports and the road is a regular traffic jam already”

He was supported by John Allen of the Showman’s Guild who said he also didn’t think the offer was suitable and would seek elsewhere adding that “security would also be an issue”.

Cllr Smedley also raised concerns at the new West street/Broadway junction where he believed it would now be even more difficult than usual to get the larger vehicles into West Street.

Parking disruption

West Street Resident Dave Winter said that Parking disruption was an ongoing issue and although some improvements had been made it remained a major problem for residents. Nigel Osborne said that a successful controlled barrier system had worked well last year and would be continued thanks to the extra hours put in by West Street caretaker Chris Osborne. Ashley James from Homes in Sedgemoor said that a possible residents parking scheme could be in place in future but this was still to be negotiated as part of a forthcoming Neighbourhood Agreement.

hi vis policing
Tex Freeman guarantees a ‘hi vis’ Police presence

Hi-Vis Policing

Beat officer Tony Freeman, speaking for the Police, stressed that “ a sizeable, high vis and targeted Police presence would be at the Fair” and “ wanted to reassure the public that in fact Fairtime crime was very low”. There would be a “no tolerance of alcohol rule and this would be enforced in line with the DPPO that applied in the area. Drinking would be restricted to the area around the Horse and Jockey and then only from plastic glasses”.

On the afternoon of Friday 12th September there would be a site visit to finalise arrangements relating to the new access road and on the Tuesday 23rd there would be a pre-Fair walkabout during the morning with Councillors and the relevant Agencies.

County Traffic Chief under Pressure over Westbow Traffic Changes

west st
The road ‘improvements’ at Westbow

Changes to the junction at Westbow crossroad in order to ‚improve the situation ‘for future EDF traffic Access to Hinkley Point’ has seen an angry response from drivers and residents putting pressure on the County Council Portfolio Holder for Highways, Cllr Harvey Siggs, to do something about it.

On August 19th Westover Town and District councillor Brian Smedley brought the concerns to the attention of the Wells councillor in an email. “There is considerable discontent about the recent County Highway changes to the filter lanes around the Westgate traffic lights in Bridgwater. Some lanes have been changed from what people have been used to for many years and there is concern at the potential for accidents particularly on the /Penel Orlieu approach/ where there is a well established filter route in n area of regular heavy congestion and also from the /West street approach/ which will shortly be once again heavily used as a major school run junction. I wonder if you could clarify the rationale behind the changes to me so that when asked I can explain if indeed these are improvements.”

The mail, also copied in to Highways officer Andrew Tranter, has not even received an acknowledgement.

Directional lane changes at Penel Orlieu
Directional lane changes at Penel Orlieu

On 29th August Bridgwater Town Clerk Alan Hurford joined in the attack with a message to the councillor for Wookey Hole Deep, with a further angry statement saying  “Bridgwater Town Council will certainly be seeking an explanation and remedy. You will – I am sure – be aware that the views locally are being translated onto newspaper websites/social media and the good old fashioned ‘Joe Public’ coming in and having a go at us – and rightly so! And of course, being on the High Street, have a constant eye witness account of the traffic backup and frustration ……. and this is all before the school traffic starts to ‘move’ again.I would suggest that the previous arrangement – using the left lane for both turn into Broadway and to West Street and the right hand lane solely for the right turn into North Street had the effect of splitting the traffic because users had a choice of which route to take to get to the residential areas on the western side. Logical. Please revert to as was.”

Still no reply from the the man at the top.

Traffic competing for the correct lane at Penel Orlieu
Traffic competing for the correct lane at Penel Orlieu

Today Harvey’s fellow Tories have now turned on him as Bridgwater Wyndham councillor Gill Slocombe finally lost her patience.
“It is with deep regret that I have to tell you that I think you have got it wrong, you have left the people of Bridgwater in deep despair, they cannot believe that anyone would actually believe the changes are improvements, let me tell you they are not.I hope you will re-consider this plan and hopefully let sense prevail and revert back to the original layout before there is a major accident in our Town, because then it will be too late. I speak for so many residents who have phoned me personally who really feel let down, its not too late to make it right.”

Cllr Smedley said  “When EDF refused to build a by-pass, which was what we all asked for, they said they would ease the looming traffic chaos with adjustments to junction. This one doesn’t bode well for the future……“

Westover Residents set up Hamp Green Neighbourhood Forum

kathy pearce
Cllr Kathy Pearce and residents at an informal get together to set up a Hamp Green Neighbourhood Forum

In the 11th century the land around Hamp Green Rise was the site of the original settlement of Hamp as recorded in the Domesday book with a population of one Lord of the Manor and several tenant farmers and valued at 30 shillings.That’s about £1.50 in new money. Owned by the Abbot of Athelney until the 16th century  it was a separate community to Bridgwater, well outside the south gate of the town (roughly where the Blake chip shop is now) and remained as such until the 19th century when the new Taunton road was built and the communities merged. It wasn’t until the 1930’s that a major house building programme started on the hilly meadows beyond and created the Hamp estate that we know today.

This area today forms an enclave along the Taunton road which is the southernmost point of the Westover ward and is separated electorally from the modern Hamp ward (see map). This week residents acknowledged the need to set up an informal Neighbourhood Forum for the Hamp Green area whereby Councillors and residents could meet regularly to discuss issues relevant to this part of the Westover Ward.

It was agreed that the Neighbourhood Forum would meet monthly but would not operate under a constitution, nor require elected officers, nor formal minutes and would be open to anyone living within these boundaries.Councillors would organize monthly afternoon neighbourhood walkabouts with relevant agencies to identify current issues. These would be held a short time in advance of the subsequent meeting. Continue reading “Westover Residents set up Hamp Green Neighbourhood Forum”

Town Council and Civic Society Open Community Assets Register

Hope Inn
Hope Inn, Taunton road, to be registered as a ‘Community Asset’.

The Joint Bridgwater Town Council and Civic Society Panel on Community Assets met this week under the Chairmanship of Westover Councillor Brian Smedley to consider what action could be taken to save key buildings in the town for the community and is urging the public to help identify buildings under threat of sale or demolition before they are lost.

Cllr Smedley said “By the Town Council successfully registering a building on the Community Assets register we are able to prevent a sale for up to 6 months thereby giving the Community a chance to put in it’s own bid or to compel developers to clarify their aims for that building to guarantee whether it is being removed from Community use. The panel is comprised of Town Councillors and Civic Society delegates but we welcome attendance in future by concerned community groups who are prepared to take ownership of identified properties and who have specialist information.”

Putting Hope on the Agenda

Civic Society Chairman Dave Chapple proposed that the Hope Inn on Taunton road and the Magistrates Court on Northgate, both in the Westover ward, be immediately registered. The Panel, which includes Westover councillor and Mayor Steve Austen, Fairfax councillor Pat Morley ,Wyndham councillor Gill Slocombe and town clerk Alan Hurford, discussed the proposals at length and voted to support.

Cllr Smedley said “The Hope inn is currently under offer and so would be a test case as the process of registration would make clear what was being proposed on the site, which is currently unused and surrounded by fencing. There are important ancilliary buildings of an historic nature and a famous skittle alley.”

Jury’s Out on the Magistrates Court

Magistrates court
Bridgwater Magistrates Court – could it be saved for community use?

The Magistrates court was a more difficult subject as it’s listing meant that future usage was limited by numerous conditions. Cllr Slocombe said “Several community groups including the Carnival and the Museum had already considered it but had been put off by the limitations.”

Cllr Morley said “We could look at film locations and the media in general, I’m sure they could find a use for this building.”

The Panel agreed to apply to  register the Courthouse but also to organise a visit with appropriate experts to explain those restrictions with a view to holding a public open day there.

Cllr Austen said he “Supported the registering of these buildings and the attempts to save them for the community providing that we weren’t giving false hope to people.”

The Community Assets Panel concludes with a call to the Public to come forward with ideas to save Historic Bridgwater buildings.
The Community Assets Panel concludes with a call to the Public to come forward with ideas to save Historic Bridgwater buildings.

Public Views Sought

Dave Chapple proposed also looking at the Somerset Bridge School – which was outside of Bridgwater but as a neighbouring Parish we believed we should have a view, and also to consider if land could be included – such as the Sion Chapel Burial Ground which was currently being prepared for building a care home on.

Town Clerk Alan Hurford was asked to clarify key legal questions and call a further meeting to look at the answers and to identify, with the help of the public.

Sedgemoor District Council, who manage the register through officer Tim Mander, commented on the next steps  “There is a formal application process which involves the applicant identifying the property which should include a plan and provide details of freehold and leasehold interests. The panel of 2 who consider applications consist of the Portfolio Holder for Community and Scrutiny and The Group Manager Community Development. If they agree to registration the owner has two rights of appeal firstly to the Monitoring Officer and if she upholds registration then to an external inspector appointed by the DCLG.