30 May

Monitoring the Northgate Project :- May 2021

Northgate-the fencing goes up

Work has now begun on Sedgemoor’s long awaited £16m entertainment and dining development on the former site of the Sedgemoor Splash and including the Brewery Field. It’s going to be known as Northgate Yard -people don’t seem keen on that -but that’s what it’ll be. As a result we will be getting a 7-screen cinema, 8-lane bowling alley, sports bar and restaurants plus green space. The project is due for completion in October 2022. However, in the meantime it will become a building site and rights of way are going to be restricted and people are indeed going to suffer noise and other nuisance. With this in mind Westover Ward Councillors Brian Smedley and Kathy Pearce have agreed to keep a channel open for residents to get directly in touch with the workers on site and the overseers at Sedgemoor District Council. The first such summit meeting took place this week and residents concerns were put to those who could answer them and take the necessary actions. This regular  section will provide an update.

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26 May

Town Council Initiative on Engine Idling

Cllr Glen Burrows and Cllr Kath Pearce

Bridgwater Town Councillors  Glen Burrows (Eastover) and Kathy Pearce (Westover) have been out around town this week promoting some new car stickers and leaflets, produced by Bridgwater Town Council following an initiative by Bridgwater Town Transport Forum, encouraging drivers to switch off their engines when their vehicle is stationary. Cllr Glen Burrows, Chair of the Forum, says “A 2019 report linked 40,000 deaths each year to air pollution, and engine idling contributes to these deaths, by increasing exhaust fumes in the atmosphere. Exhaust fumes contain carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons – all poisonous pollutants. In Bridgwater town centre, on streets such as High Street, Eastover and St John Street, shop-keepers spend all day breathing in pollution from idling engines. We need to persuade motorists to stop this practice.”

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25 May

“Where are you really from?” – Exploring Migration and Identity

THURSDAY, 17 JUNE 2021 FROM 19:00 –21:00

Bridgwater Together & The Eclectic Collective presents  

Free  · Online event

“Go back to where you came from! We don’t want you here.” Who is ‘we’? and where the hell am I supposed to go ‘back’ to?” An event exploring migration and identity in Somerset, maybe? Yes-ha! There will be diverse topics of discussion with our esteemed guest speakers, talking about their own experiences of migration and the impact they have felt on their identity as well as opportunities for the audience to connect and form a network with each other in the smaller workshops held in breakout rooms.

To join the event visit eventbrite and register and a zoom link will appear

Co organiser Roshan Adve says “We are hoping to bring people together to reconstruct the values we hold as British people, shed light on Britain’s colonial past, revise the language around migration, explore the causes and consequences of Racial Imposter Syndrome and much more!”

Workshops

1) “Re-examining Britain’s past: An accurate history of colonialism” – Delving into Britain’s guilt-ridden, imperial past and exploring how the effects it had on migration are felt today.

2) “So you think you’re British? Reconstructing British values” – A workshop on scrapping the façade of British values we are taught in school and brainstorming new values that society should aspire towards.

3) “Revising the language around Migration: Debunking migration myths” – A socio-linguistic analysis on how the negative language that politicians and political parties use around migration trickles into our culture and how to recognize and counteract this.

4) “What Are You? Exploring the Mixed Identity” – A workshop exploring the difficulties people face expressing and coming to terms with their racial identities in a majority white area and the experience of racial identity dysphoria.

The event will be livestreamed

For more information go to  Facebook or contact the organisers at eclectic.antiracism@gmail.com

 

 

18 Apr

Town Tree Fund Seeking Sites for Re-Forestation

The re-forestation of the town centre starts with Castle Street

Last year Bridgwater Town Council set up a ‘Tree Fund’ to encourage the blossoming of the town and to help to tackle climate change and to promote biodiversity. The more biodiverse an area is the healthier an areas wildlife ecosystem is. Climate warming is due to an overload of carbon and other human activity gases into the atmosphere. Trees take in the carbon and capture it and lock it into its roots, branches, shoots, and leaves. Then the tree gives us back our clean air we breathe. The tree root structure locks soils and mud into place which helps prevent flooding. Town council’s outgoing  In December 2020 the first trees planted with the help of the tree fund went up in Hamp Green Rise and are now in Spring bloom. This week has seen another development, residents taking it upon themselves to re-forest as can be witnessed with the new initiative of Town’s tree expert Roy Cheek who has overseen the establishment of a new tree lined avenue in Bridgwater’s historic Castle Street.

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14 Apr

‘Last Chance to Save Local Democracy’ says Town Council Leader

And it’s thumbs up for the Stronger Somerset case from Council leader Smedley and his panda tee shirt

Bridgwater Town Council recently voted unanimously to support the STRONGER SOMERSET case for Unitary reorganisation in Somerset and with the deadline of April 19th now with us, councillors are urging members of the public to respond to the Government Consultation. Town Council leader Brian Smedley (Labour, Westover) says “The only chance people will get to have their views heard on this will be to reply to the Government consultation as the Secretary of State Robert Jenrick appears to be ruling out any vote by the people of Somerset. That suggests to me a very flawed process and that he doesn’t think the people actually matter. He’ll be taking the decision but he will at least need to look at what people are saying in their replies. Town Council has responded in detail to the questions and we urge everyone to study the 2 choices and to make their own response in time for the deadline. This might even be the last chance to save local democracy.”

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