11 Mar

Bridgwater Town Council Backs ‘Stronger Somerset’

Bridgwater Town Council Leader Brian Smedley backing ‘Stronger Somerset’ as the best bet for ‘stronger Towns and Parishes’

At tonight’s meeting of Bridgwater Town Council, councillors  voted to back the 2-Unitary solution offered by Stronger Somerset and rejected the single county bid fronted by Somerset County Council. Bridgwater Town Council is a Labour run authority with Conservative opposition but all councillors were united in supporting the motion which was proposed by Leader of the Council Cllr Brian Smedley (Labour, Westover) and seconded by Cllr Gill Slocombe (Con, Wyndham). Cllr Smedley said “Our position has always been that more power should be concentrated at the most local levels and Towns and Parishes taking on more service delivery  is the way forward. One gigantic Somerset county will be far too remote from local communities and elected members will be virtual unaccountable despots ruling over distant fiefdoms. Of the bids on offer, it is clear that the towns, parishes, and most of the political groups back Stronger Somerset. It’s only a comfy born to rule clique of out of touch high Tories that seem to want ‘One Somerset’. Political balance and proportionality will go out of the window if they get their way and I’m really pleased that Sedgemoor Tories and Lib Dems see eye to eye with us on this one. They know the value of people being represented at the locallest level and communities having a real say in their affairs and not being dictated to from on high”.

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23 Feb

“No More Treemageddons!” Say Westover Councillors

Treemageddon, Northgate

At this weeks meeting of Sedgemoor District Council which approved plans for Brewery Field enhancement, Westover councillors criticised the sudden deforestation of the site which took members of the public by surprise earlier this month. Town Council Leader Brian Smedley (Labour, Westover) said “What’s not to like about a high quality town centre park achieved with no net loss of open space.  But this hasn’t been helped by the recent and sudden wholesale destruction of trees on Northgate and as a result ward councillors have been hard pressed to justify this. But we have been able to with the understanding that more green space will be created and more trees planted – I expect this will come up again when  the Brewery Field will be used as a storage yard for the leisure development in June -so keeping the people informed is very important.”

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5 Feb

Town Council Calls for ‘Legacy and Mitigation’ from EDF

Bridgwater Town Council meet with EDF to discuss worker uplift

At a specially called meeting of Bridgwater Town Council members last night to discuss the proposed ‘worker uplift’ with EDF, council members restated their insistence that the Hinkley C project must have consequential benefits, mitigate where unforeseen changes were made and come out of it with a legacy project for the community. The meeting was called by the Town Council’s energy spokesman Cllr Leigh Redman amid fears of lack of consultation by the energy giant. As a result Town Council will co-ordinate a response with Sedgemoor District Council to the changes which will see a major increase in the number of workers on site at peak and an inevitable pressure on private rented accommodation at the same time.

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3 Feb

Friday 5th February 2021 is International Clash Day

Joe Strummer
Enter the Strummer

If you take a walk into the centre of Bridgwater you’ll see a signpost with fingers pointing to our different partner towns around the world. Pointing directly to the West is the US city of Seattle. The reason we have this interesting link is because of our town’s connection with Clash frontman Joe Strummer who moved to the area, loved our town calling Bridgwater ‘a Clash Town’ and at his last gig at the Palace raised money to help found the Engine Room project. He died a month later in December 2002.  In 2016 Bridgwater and Seattle linked up signing a punk twinning declaration through the auspices of KEXP Radio in the USA which runs an ‘International Clash Day’ every year which we like to take part in. This year the date will be Friday February 5th and all day long they will be broadcasting Clash music from 5am to 7pm -US Pacific time- which means 1pm to 3am UK Atlantic (Bridgwater Bay) time.

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12 Jan

Ward Members ‘Concern’ as Sedgemoor Planners Vote Through Penlea Development

Hamp Councillors Liz Leavy and Leigh Redman

Bridgwater’s Hamp Councillors campaign to challenge the proposed development of the historic Penlea House to a four storey block of  33 flats has met a serious obstacle as Sedgemoor’s Development Committee voted 10.5 to approve the plan. Labour Councillors Liz Leavy and Leigh Redman spoke at the meeting but their pleas for a site visit fell on largely deaf ears. Cllr Leigh Redman said afterwards “ I am concerned by the approval as it will have a detrimental impact on residents all around the site with considerable overlooking and loss of privacy, by not going to site the committee lost an important opportunity to see just how close the adjoining properties are, the building will negatively impact views all around the estate.”

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