The next meeting of the Bridgwater Town Council Police Priorities Forum will be held on Thursday November 12th at 1pm. The meeting will be held between representatives of the Policer and Town Councillors and will be on Zoom and subsequently available to the public. However, Town Council Leader Brian Smedley is asking members of the public to submit questions to him in advance cllrsmedley@bridgwater-tc.gov.uk. Cllr Smedley said “The September meeting of the Police priorities forum had so many questions from members of the public that we couldn’t get through them all and , ironically, in the middle of questioning the Police were called away to attend an incident. This time we will include the questions held over from last time but we will start with new, current and ongoing issues. The aim of this forum is to make sure that what the Police see as ‘Priorities’ matches what the community expects. In recent weeks there’s been many incidents in the town centre but also we’ve seen on the news that this isn’t just a local problem as major incidents have been occurring from right across the Avon and Somerset region whether that’s raves in Yate or House Parties in Highbridge. Mainly the people need reassurance that the Police have their priorities correct and are making the best use of the resources available to them. Please send in your questions.”
A brand new walk-through coronavirus testing facility is set to open in Bridgwater this Sunday, as Somerset County Council makes testing more widely available and accessible. Achieved with the co-operation of Bridgwater Town Council, Serco and Deloitte, the walk-through site will be the first of its kind in the County and is one of two new sites set up recently – with a drive-through facility in Yeovilton going live this week. The opening of the site comes as the Government has implemented a new four-week national lockdown in a bid to “Contain the Autumn surge”. Somerset’s Public Health is supportive of the new restrictions and say it comes at a critical time to help flatten the curve and bring down the rising infection rates in the County.
HANDS, FACE, SPACE
Trudi Grant, Somerset’s Director of Public Health today said: “All residents are being urged to follow the guidelines to help stop the spread of the virus by staying home, and following the HANDS FACE SPACE guidance if they need to leave home for one of the permitted reasons. It is now more important than ever that we all work together, and testing plays a key role in helping to reduce the spread of this highly infectious virus. If we know who is infected, we can isolate them accordingly and notify anyone that they may have been in close contact with.”
Testing is available only for those with coronavirus symptoms – a high temperature, a new continuous cough, or a loss or change to sense of smell or taste. Anyone with one or more of these symptoms should book a test at nhs.uk/coronavirus or by calling 119.
Bridgwater South County Councillor Leigh Redman
The new site is situated so that people without transport can easily access it, and it will be open 7 days a week from 8am to 8pm. Those being tested will be required to follow public health measures, including social distancing, not travelling by taxi or public transport, practising good personal hygiene and wearing a face covering throughout, including while travelling to and from the testing centre.
The two new sites sit alongside the existing facilities at Taunton Racecourse and Frome Cricket Club and are important developments in the County’s bid to reduce the spread of coronavirus. The new walk-through site is a first for the County and will make it much easier for people who don’t have access to their own transport.
Bridgwater Town, District and County Councillor Leigh Redman, added “As the County councillor for the area that this fantastic facility is in, I must admit that it will help many people to be tested locally. To clear up a few points, as well as public testing this is for key workers to have their regular tests locally, it is for those people who don’t have easy access to transport, tests will be by appointment only, the entry queues will be at the back and limited, a small number of parking spaces for testing only will be available in front the town hall and be time limited. I am trying to contact Angel Place management to try and use their parking next to the town hall so that we can open up the bays in front, this is a work in progress. I will make sure that issues or concerns are dealt with ASAP. I am pleased that Bridgwater will benefit from this and make it easier for our community. “
Brewery Field -plans for a town centre park launched
Following approval of the plans for a new leisure complex on the Northgate site consultation on the next phase-turning the Brewery Field into a town centre park- has been launched tonight at the Town Council’s ‘Town Development Forum’. The meeting was chaired by Town Council Leader Cllr Brian Smedley (Westover) and notes taken by Deputy Leader Cllr Kathy Pearce (Westover). The presentation, to residents, councillors and Forum delegates, was given by Sedgemoor officer Stuart Martin on the proposed scheme drawn up by McGregor Smith, Landscape Architects who are working with SDC.
Bridgwater people are extremely proud of their history and for the past 4 years ‘Bridgwater History Day’ has been an important part of the towns heritage calendar playing to full houses at the Bridgwater Arts Centre. This year we’re not going to let a global pandemic stop the march of time and so we’re hosting the event online!! On Saturday SAT 28TH November from 1030 to 1pm you can tune in to our Open Zoom link and Facebook Live Stream and join in the history!
Leisure led regeneration will finally return to Northgate following a vote today by Sedgemoor District Council members to approve the project for a 7 screen state of the art cinema and an 8 lane bowling centre on the site of the former Sedgemoor Splash. Members agreed to proceed to the construction phase of the project and to invest up to £15m into project. The Full Council voted 31.0 (with 6 abstentions) to support the scheme. Welcoming the decision was Labour Leader Cllr Brian Smedley (Bridgwater Westover) who spoke of the long road to reach this point saying “This scheme has been a long time coming. It was just over 10 years ago that we were fighting bitter battles to stop the Splash being closed and to prevent a massive Tesco being dumped on the site. At the end of that battle, as throughout, we called for the return of leisure to that site because we knew that, as with the splash, it was a key anchor and brought people into the town. We knew it was an important facility for families and we knew it retained customers in the town as well as attracted people from a wide distance. Today that ambition has come within touching distance. “
