On 19th January the Town Council’s ‘Town Development Forum’ held a meeting with councillors, partners and officers to raise the towns views on the Celebration Mile. After this a cross party motion calling for a review was passed by all councillors. The report of the January meeting is contained here for people to refresh themselves as to the history of the Celebration Mile and peoples views for and against.

Bridgwater Town Council Town Development Forum 19.1.2026

Attendance

Town & County Councillors Cllr Brian Smedley Cllr Kath Pearce Cllr Leigh Redman Cllr
Gill Slocombe Cllr Diogo Rodrigues
Town Councillors Cllr Tim Mander, Cllr Liz Leavy, Cllr Jacqui Solomon, Cllr Mike Lerry, Cllr
Irena Hubble,
Town Council Staff David Mears (CEO) Helen Astill (Grants) Mel Webb (Comms) , Rob
Semple (Community Director)
Partner Delegates Brian Workman (Eastover trader) Paul Moate (Town Team), Chris
Hocking (Carnival), Lucy Workman (Eastover trader , Glen Burrows (Senior Citizens
Forum), Deb Richardson (Somerset Film) Phil Shepherd (Somerset Film) Dave Chapple
(Trades Council / Civic Society),
Guest speaker Cllr Mike Rigby Somerset Council Lead Member for Economic
Development, Planning and Assets

Background-

Brian Smedley welcomed delegates, councillors and Mike Rigby to the meeting and outlined the background. The Celebration Mile project was Part of the town deal – 11 schemes £23.2million – which aimed to re-energise Bridgwater. So many towns would kill for such an offer and many of the projects have gone down well yet the one area that has attracted a lot of criticism is the celebration mile.

• There has been an outcry on social media which resulted in County being presented with a petition and an extensive and well attended public debate.
• County accepted a compromise motion put forward by divisional member Cllr Redman calling for a review of traffic direction and the reintroduction of parking on the riverside routes.
• This was followed by town council passing a similar motion and calling for this meeting.

So, one thing we’d like today is for you to let us know where we are with all of those – which come down to the same thing – people think you need to review the celebration mile in some way

• The riverside route likely needs revisiting to change direction
• The main Eastover route needs ‘enforcement’ to ensure it works
• The whole project needs reviewing and traffic modelling
• We’d like an update on that with a timeline and a deadline

 We’d like to look at the history of WHY we went down this route in the first place and what can be done better in future bearing in mind there are more funding opportunities coming forward.

The History of the Celebration Mile

• The aim of the celebration mile was to create a pedestrian friendly route from train station to docks, boost town centre life, add art and greenery
• Accessible, Pedestrian friendly, Attractive, Encourages walking/ cycle
• Supports businesses
• Creates Public art, street furniture, improved lighting, trees

The Celebration mile was devised in a different time…. a funding opportunity offered by the last govt, grasped by Sedgemoor Council which no longer exists and leaves the

County Council as the responsible body. This is particularly important when we consider future funding streams and how we make sure we get them right. Thinking about Pride in Place which we have been awarded by the new Government and are right at the beginning of that project and mustn’t make the same mistakes.

Response from Mike Rigby

I’ve been a councillor for 13 years ago and this project predates me. I was elected to Somerset in 2013. This is at least 20 years in the making. There was repeated criticism at that time and raised by Sedgemoor saying various councils haven’t done much for the east side of the river. This eventually fell into the Celebration Mile remit, to link railway and docks. And now it’s done it’s a a better piece of public realm than it was. Eastover is better. Despite the traffic the area is better. Money was made available for celebration mile and for Eastover, it was approved by Sedgemoor then Somerset, so Somerset ran with it and implemented what we have now.

It’s fair to say that the Contractor employed didn’t cover themselves in glory and as a result we might be able to recover some money. Nor am I convinced that the contract was right either. The project was slow. It took a long time. Never sure why they dug up Eastover in one go and not in phases. So, no favour from contractors. But we’ve delivered a decent bit of public realm. One-way streets on Salmon Parade and Eastover were always part of the plan. So, it’s a surprise that people were surprised. However, I have experience of changing streets and there’s always some shock initially which then subsides. More people use shops like this and driving down a street has no correlation because shoppers are pedestrians. But there are concerns from many quarters. So, we have agreed toundertake a review – seek alternative ways of operating to make shopping easier.

Bridgwater has significant congestion issues, so we need to assess if traffic flow in Eastover contributes to this. This needs a degree of modelling to gauge the impact of wider traffic, and the impact on footfall

I don’t know why parking spaces on salmon parade disappeared. I wouldn’t have done it, but then it’s not my scheme. So, we could bring this back at an early stage. However, we are not short of parking – the old Aldi, Asda, above the market, Binford place, our work will analyse this and see what needs to change

Lucy Workman – These are sane comments and I support what has been said. I work in Eastover and I drive through each day. No problems. No traffic jams. It might worry me if Salmon Parade gets reversed as we need to maintain a safe environment

Mike Rigby That’s helpful. No decisions have yet been made. We will have more consultation

Lucy Workman But we’ve had decades of consultation and surveys. Experts can get it wrong, but this was a good forward analysis. Everyone in a car is part of the traffic problem

Dave Chapple The Civic Society spent ¾ hrs discussing this and there are varied views. However, we don’t want 2-way traffic restored to Salmon Parade and East Quay. Just reverse the direction. I’m not a car driver but it seems obvious that Minehead/ Taunton/North Petherton traffic going to Asda should turn into Salmon Parade to get there. I’m an Eastover resident and think this is the best thing that’s happened to Eastover. I’m also a cyclist. Congratulations even back to Sedgemoor. Don’t think reversing the riverside route will lead to increase in traffic. There are also 2 x 20 mph signs which have been vandalised – maybe with angle grinder. Might be deliberate. We maybe need low level Bollards to deter pavement parking. They may not be there due to cost. Drivers are so lazy they can’t be bothered to park round corner and just go on pavements. Some deterrent is needed

Mike Rigby I am concerned at pavement parking. Pedestrians don’t have much space as it is. Nice stone surfaces are not designed for this.

Chris Hocking – My own personal experience is that the new system in Eastover creates more congestion at Cannon roundabout. I use it every day coming into town. Traffic has increased. I would support a reversal of one-way system on Salmon Parade and East Quay. In Eastover there’s less pedestrian footfall. It seems quiet. I’m surprised businesses can continue- especially the new supermarkets, as there’s no way to easily move shopping to a vehicle

Paul Moate – People are parking in cycle bays at night. Especially delivery companies. Can there be some kind of Camera recognition??

Mike Rigby Enforcement is part of review. Maybe ANPR is possible

Phil Shepherd– speaking as a citizen I have 2 observations 1) There’s less congestion with the one-way system, but I now find it more dangerous crossing the road as people are speeding. I would like speed bumps in the road 2) as a bus passenger, I would ask you to tell First bus that the 375 for instance should say there’s a bus stop in Eastover –There is an over large loading bay-was it meant to be a bus stop?

Lucy Workman Traders are one of biggest culprits for pavement parking – I still feel the infrastructure allows it to happen and bollards or flower planters would prevent it

Cllr Diogo Rodrigues – regarding the review, what democratic touch points for consultation and research are there?

Mike Rigby I will make a commitment to bring whatever changes are recommended to THIS group and local members. Theres been decades worth of consultation. So don’t want to delay whole review.

Cllr Mick Lerry– Monitoring in the second phase. I would like consideration about public transport as there is funding from the present govt to develop the transport hub here and we want to invest in the B1 service to improve the route. It’s important that public transport is taken into consideration. It’s also important to use the town centre safely and bring people into it safely

Mike Rigby both my last trips to Bridgwater have been on bus. It’s important to do safely and with no congestion. Whatever we do wont disadvantage users of public transport

Cllr Gill Slocombe –It’s really good that this review is going on. Thanks. Under SDC we didn’t all agree but it’s interesting listening to residents and businesspeople. Reversing the 1-way system on riverside might be best so they don’t have to go all way round to Cannon. The detriment to parking in Eastover is a common concern. Planters etc are a good idea.

Cllr Leigh Redman – Sorry I’m late but I was caught up in Bridgwater traffic. Thanks toMike for coming. I speak as a somerset cllr for the area. I’ve written to enforcement to step up. There are 2 types of parking – enforceable which Somerset can have an impact on but also illegal parking and without police this can’t be dealt with. I welcome the review – but another point is the promise of a quick fix and at the earliest opportunity. And local Cllrs should be involved. For instance, on Salmon Parade the hatched areas are there to stop parking BUT people think they’re FOR parking. We need to get parking back here plus the reversal of the one-way system is the best way. Cannons roundabout – the council took money from here and put it to Dunball….it should have increased capacity at Cannon but by taking money away and not increasing capacity then sending new traffic there made it worse.

Cllr Tim Mander BTC footfall counters– will they be part of the review? Information should be made available.

Mike Rigby yes, I’ve spoken to Rob Semple at BTC about making data available and can use it in the review. If the goal of the project is to improve commercial success in Eastover, we need to know if it is doing this.

Cllr Jacqui Solomon Town councillors for Eastover did point out these issues before. We told Stuart Martin, that the change of direction of flow would make it a road to nowhere, and that it limits access from south part of town. Main point we made was that people would park on pavements and so you should install bollards and thereby dissuade people from using it for parking and for parking in the cycle path. The nice pavements will be ruined very quickly.

Mike Rigby point taken

David Mears, Can I ask that we make sure when we do the final consultation that we send it to BTC coms officers.? We can send 3 years of footfall to show comparative trends.

Mike Rigby agree

Cllr Irena Hubble – At this stage can we have a timeline for all of this??

Mike Rigby Yes, we aim to get the first decisions by April. But we want constant dialogue to ensure that this is properly shaped. Could we come back next month to this body? But we also have to bear in mind that there’s also a legal process and a lead in period. Can’t just click fingers, can’t just do it.

Cllr Diogo Rodrigues Can disabled parking be part of the review?

Mike Rigby On Salmon Parade especially yes.

Dave Chapple –I’m led to believe there should have been benches in Eastover. They’re not there-are there??

Mike Rigby don’t know will find out

Brian Workman Lucy and I own the bike workshop. Our biggest nightmare is vehicle access for heavy aggregate and building materials – but traffic wardens tell us that the loading bays are only for commercial vehicle and we can’t park so close. This means that the nearest we can get is the 1-hour section end of church street—and then I have to wheelbarrow aggregate to the shop. Can traders not have passes?

Mike Rigby– It’s a fair point and clearly an oversight.

Cllr Leigh Redman– As ward councillor I will liase with enforcement and get systems in place

Mike Rigby thanks and I would appreciate another one of these meetings as I don’t live in Bridgwater so always willing to learn.

Cllr Leigh Redman Regarding the street furniture, we’ve had 4 different project managers. They should work with the town council to get these planters

David Mears – BTC does street cleaning and can help with process of installing street furniture. We did this in consultation with traders, but what went in wasn’t what we chose. We have agreed we’ll purchase street furniture and install but want the money transferred to us. County also needs to end its relationship with Taylor Woodrow for this to happen

Cllr Tim Mander– as Leigh alluded there’s been a number of project managers. We agreed with Stuart Martin that this part of funding would go to BTC, to achieve planters with seating ..but they’re clearly lacking…if we can access these funds, we can provide what traders wanted and seating to go with it

Lucy Workman I’m surprised to hear that traders had been consulted

David Mears – I will look into it

Cllr Brian Smedley – I will write a report based on this meeting and present it to the town council and copy it to County and then we can have another meeting next month to monitor this and see where we are with the review. Thanks to Cllr Rigby for attending and for the contributions of partners and councillors