Bridgwater’s  Covid Testing Centre will be up and running from the 6th November.  Bridgwater Town Hall in the High street will be the  location and Somerset County Council have agreed that on-street car parking  will be allowed outside the building.  Town Clerk, David Mears , who has been leading on the negotiations, explained “There are 3 types of testing centre -‘Regional’ as we see in Taunton and Weston, ‘Mobile’-which just pop up for 6 weeks in various car parks and ‘Local’ which is what we’ll be getting here. These are internal, appointment based and the project should last about 6 months. We have full risk assessment, there’ll be set time slots, entrance via Clare Street and no queueing. It will be totally covid-safe and has been signed off  by Public Health England..”

Town Councillor Leigh Redman (Hamp) who is the Towns Property Portfolio Holder welcomes the news saying “I am really pleased that as a town council we will be able to support this government led initiative that will provide safe and local Covid testing for our community in the Town hall. I have been working with our Town Clerk to ensure every step is taken to ensure safety. The County Council has supported us to re-designate the minimum number for parking bays in front of the town hall for those booked to be tested, the spaces will be open for normal parking when the test centre is not in use. We hope the facility is not needed, but it will be ready to ensure tests are available.  Work in the building will start in early November to ready the test centre and it will be available for a period of 6 months. I want to thank everyone that has helped and supported this opportunity.”