NOTHING SHORT OF A CRIME AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF BRIDGWATER

Hope turned to anger at Bridgwater House  today as Bridgwater Forward supporters turned up in strength to cheer on a Labour motion to get the Councils decision to sell Northgate to Tesco's rescinded. On the back of the tremendously succesful Town Meeting two days previously where townspeople overwhelmingly rejected the supermarket proposals  the audience had hoped to see Councillors at least reconsider the position and withdraw the final decision until a new council elected after May 5th could reconsider the many points raised by the motion proposed by Labour Councillors Kathy Pearce and Brian Smedley.

Ian Tucker

Ian Tucker, speaking for Bridgwater Forward at the meeting said "From the decision to close Splash it would seem that the Council have rushed through every decision as fast as possible, in some cases ignoring their own policy. The decision to sell Northgate, a prime site in the centre of town to yet another large supermarket chain is nothing short of a crime against the people of Bridgwater. Why has the monitoring officer gone against the council's own policy and given only two weeks advertised notice in the press of the intended sale of the Brewery field? Why are opposition councillors being denied certain details about the contract? Surely a meaningful debate cannot take place unless all members know all the facts? It would seem that tesco is giving nothing back to the town for building their giant supermarket. Is the council really satisfied that the consturction of additional retail stores on Northgate will revitalise the town centre and why have they not pursued Tesco for leisure facilities on Northgate which will bring people in and help revitalise the centre?"

Bob Cudlipp

Mr Bob Cudlipp addressed the council by giving a report on the Public Meeting at the town hall held 2 nights before saying "almost 200 people were present, numerous people spoke in favour of saving the Brewery field, only 1 spoke and voted in favour of Tescos. This is what the people of Bridgwater want and you should listen to us!"

After Cllrs Kathy Pearce and Brian Smedley had moved the motion and Cllr David Preece  had put the Tory position, Labour Councillor for Eastover Julian Taylor rose to speak drawing attention to the promises and failures of the ASDA development. Hardly had the debate got under way when suddenly Tory leader Duncan McGinty drew the discussions to a close and moved to   the vote  with all Tories voting to reject the challenge and thereby crush the hopes of the Townspeople.

26 Tories voted against 11 Labour & LibDem with only the Chair abstaining. 

 

Labour cries of "You're voting to stifle the debate!" were met by a wall of Tory silence and  a forest of uniformly raised arms in support of their leader.

An angry Ian Tucker grabbed the michrophone and said "You're all sheep!"

A TOWN UNITED

200 people pack the town hall for the 'Parish meeting'

Almost 200 people packed the Town Hall in Bridgwater to attend the first ever Parish meeting held in the town and roundly condemned the decision of Sedgemoor District Council to sell the Northgate land to Supermarket giant Tescos. The meeting was chaired by Town Mayor Cllr Bill Monteith and after a passionate debate the motion was overwhelmingly supported with only 1 solitary vote against.

Glen Burrows moves the motion

Moving the motion, Glen Burrows (secretary of Campaign Group Bridgwater Forward) described the evening as a "very important exercise in public participation, because our main criticism of Sedgemoor District Council is their complete lack of Public Consulation. We are all here united in our desire to preserve and enhance the town centre.  We want people to have the confidence to shop in Bridgwater. The answer to this is NOT to drop a massive 60,000 square feet supermarket into one of our major open spaces! When SDC did consult a few years ago through the Hepher Dixon report the people said they didn't want any more supermarkets and they did want a leisure led development on the site. SDC admits the ASDA development in Eastover failed and had the opposite effect to regenerate the area. Why have 'public engagement if you then do the opposite! Tonight we need to persuade Sedgemoor to review this disastrous decision and start to talk about what is really needed in Bridgwater! When a public open space is gone it's gone forever!"

Angela Tarr seconds

Seconding the motion , swimming pool campaigner Angela Tarr  said "The Brewery field was purchased for the people of  Bridgwater by the Borough Council in  the 1960's  and it has been gradually eroded over the years.This is a valued open space with a decent ammount of grass  , several trees and in the middle of a residential area. It shouldn't be sold to any developer who can then do what they like to it! It would be a total betrayal of trust to the people of Bridgwater and I object strongly!"

Linda Brigg ,said "Tescos says it will bring extra jobs but this doesn't add up. Families have their budgets and they won't increase that to shop at more supermarkets so jobs will be lost elsewhere. There will be chaos on the roads and Bridgwater won't be going anywhere fast. We don't need yet another supermarket!"

Sally Jones said "How long will the Brewery Field remain an open space once Tescos get hold of it?  Tesco won't bring back what the town has lost. Who will want to trade next to Tesco!"

Townspeople engage in the debate

Patricia Walsh, an Anson Way resident, said "People need to realise the scale of what is being proposed. Morrisons is 22,000 square feet, Asda is 35,000 and Sainsburys 44,000.....Tesco will be 60,000! It will take 12 to 15 months to construct, they'll excavate down to 12 feet, pile drivers, bulldozers and then 33 lorries a day will service it."

Dave Chapple "Meeting offers hope"

Dave Chapple said "This meeting offers us hope. The hope that people in this town will not forever be ruled by Conservatives who don;t live in the town! The old Bridgwater Borough council had one of the best Housing and Social Services records in the County and if we're going to get back to a position where we have a Town Council  run for the people of the town and eliminate Tory rule. "

Nick Gibson said "Brewery Field was given to the people of Bridgwater and so it should pass to the town Council. We've had con-con-con-consultation and we don't want a supermarket and now it seems we're getting one. It's just another example of the rape and pillage of Bridgwater by Sedgemoor District Council. If they don;t want something - dump it in Bridgwater, and anything in Bridgwater they can make money from, they sell. It makes me angry!"

Nick Gibson "It makes me angry"

Tory market stall holder Lance Duddridge admitted he didn't know if Tescos would be a good or a bad thing but he felt there was too much doom and gloom around and thought maybe it would bring more people into the town.

Alec Western said "Theres a lot more to life than another supermarket and especially something that will look so hideous.  This is our town, there's no need to sell the whole of the Brewery field. What about peoples quality of life? To lose that land forever is treasonable. What are we leaving to our children? What else are we going to lose? "

Kathy Wilson said "The town centre is already dying on it's feet so what has Bridgwater got left? What happened to our swimming pool which they said was past it's sell by date? Well, Brean Leisure centre is doing very well with its flumes   sold to them at a knock down price !"

Glen Burrows summed up the debate "When people talk about 'living in the real world' they're right, we do have to make some big decisions, but when  Sedgemoor says theres no money  they are wrong. When they need to find money they can find it. In the 'real world' I wouldn't pay a Chief Executive £92,000  a year. There are Elections this May -Don't vote for the people who voted to demolish the Splash!"

The Mayor calls for the vote

The Mayor Bill Monteith said "The position of the Town Council has always been that SDC shouldn't have demolished the Splash, any swimming facility should be town centre based, and the Supermarket development proposed is not condusive to the Town Centre. This has come about because SDC are cash strapped  and once you've cut your staff and your services then you sell things. If it wasn't for the Town Council picking up the pieces we would have lost the Museum and the Town hall by April 1st, Grass wouldn't be cut, there'd be no public toilets and we've also taken on the Allotments and the Cemetries. You're right the Tories don't live here and their policies are regretable and reprehensible."

The meeting voted on the motion which called on the Town Council to oppose the sale of Northgate to Tescos. The room was a forest of hands in support with one lonely Tescos fan exercising his democratic right.

People leave the historical meeting UNITED

The motion will now go to the Bridgwater Town Council meeting of April 14th.

All eyes now turn to the SDC meeting of Wednesday 30th March where the Labour Group have tabled a motion calling on SDC to rescind the decision to sell the Northgate land to Tescos.

TOWN MEETING 7.30 MONDAY 28TH MARCH

Bridgwater Forward is urging everyone to attend the special TOWN MEETING to be held at the Town Hall on Monday 28th March at 7.30.  The only item on the agenda will be one urging the Town Council to reject the Tesco's development on Northgate. Any elector of Bridgwater can attend, speak and vote, although the recommendation will then go to the 16 Town Councillors for a final decision on the motion. 

The meeting will be chaired by the Mayor Cllr Bill Monteith.

On Wednesday 30th March the Labour Group have submitted an urgent motion  to the Sedgemoor District Council Meeting (2.30) calling on the decision to sell Northgate to be rescinded.  This will be the last SDC meeting before ther new council is elected on May 5th.

ANGER AS SEDGEMOOR NOTICE SHOWS REALITY OF BREWERY FIELD SELL OFF

Sedgemoor District Council revealed today their plans to sell off the Northgate site of the former Splash pool in Bridgwater to Tescos as part of a major superstore development when they posted notice of the sale in the Bridgwater Mercury and on their website. The Notice and accompanying map showed that the Brewery field in it's entirity would be part of the sale as opposed to the suggested loss of 1/3 of the site.

The notice reads as follows;-

NOTICE UNDER SECTION 123(2A) LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972
PROPOSED DISPOSAL OF LAND AT NORTHGATE, BRIDGWATER FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A MIXED USE DEVELOPMENT BY TESCO STORES LIMITED
Sedgemoor District Council is considering the disposal of Brewery Field at Northgate Bridgwater. It is proposed that the land will be disposed of by way of a freehold transfer to Tesco Stores Limited to facilitate a mixed use development. This development will include a smaller, but enhanced Brewery Field, hard landscaped public space, new retail units and office accommodation and a new Tesco Extra store.
Members of the public who wish to comment or object to the proposal should send their comments or objection to Tim Mander, Team Leader – Property Management in writing by 5 pm on Tuesday 22nd March 2011.
A plan of the proposed land together with further details of the proposed development can be obtained either by contacting Mr T Mander on 01278 435331

email: tim.mander@Sedgemoor.gov.uk; from the Council’s website www.sedgemoor.gov.uk or from Reception at Bridgwater House Reception, King Square, Bridgwater TA6 3AR during normal office hours.

Sedgemoors plans for Brewery field as advertised on their website

OPPOSITION

Bridgwater Forward activists and local residents are expected to object in the strongest terms to the issue of the notice. Recently 6 members of Bridgwater Forward succesfully petititoned the Town Council to urgently debate the sale of Northgate at a Special Town meeting to be held on 28th march.Local residents of Anson Way,Blacklands and Mount street are angry about the proposed development and have urged people to contact the Council to object to the proposal.

Cllr Kathy Pearce, Leader of the Labour group on Sedgemoor District Council   said "The Brewery Field is one of Sedgemoor's greatest assets which is a valued green space in the heart of the town.  To 'dispose' of it with the rest of Northgate without any legal protection to preserve the field for future generations is outrageous.  This completely undermines Sedgemoor's statement in their Corporate Strategy which we all signed up to and pledged to "Protect and enhance the environment - to lead environmental management, managing open spaces, caring for our historical assets and championing high standards of urban design and development".  As with the commitment to save the Splash until a replacement was built, these pledges are completely ignored when it suits them.The town is rapidly expanding with new developments and we desperately need to hold on to and enhance what few open spaces we have."

Cllr Brian Smedley , Shadow portfolio for Health & WellBeing  wrote the following letter to SDC Corporate director Doug Bamsey asking for an explanation. 

Dear Mr Bamsey

With regard to the  Notice in the Mercury today regarding the disposal of the  Brewery Field, (also  on the SDC website) can you confirm my understanding that Sedgemoor are now flogging off the whole of the Brewery Field to Tesco and not "just" that bit required for building the new store? 

I have to say the breadth of the sale has surprised me. Maybe it shouldn;t have, so  can you confirm that this knowledge was made clear to members and if so exactly where? 

I suspect very few other people realised the extent of the sale and had assumed that your intentions were minimal in constantly stating that only 1/3 of the Brewery field site would be surrendered and you meant exactly that and not every last blade of grass.    

I have written to Melanie Wellman asking for access to the whole 'Development Agreement' document and am encountering some resistance and so I am a bit concerned about  exactly what else is being witheld from members and from the public here.

Could you please urgently furnish me with some answers?

Cllr Brian Smedley

TOWN MEETING CALLED FOR MONDAY 28TH MARCH

"Another First for Bridgwater!" declared Sally Jones, Chair of Bridgwater Forward , as Bridgwater Town Council responded positively to the Campaign Groups request for the First 'Town Meeting' of it's kind ever to be held in Bridgwater. "Now everybody come along and air your views!".

Sally Jones (Chair of Bridgwater Forward) Cllr Bill Monteith (Town Mayor)

Town Mayor Cllr Bill Monteith thanked Bridgwater Forward for asking for the meeting and introducing members to ".. the vagaries of "section 9 and 13 part 3 of schedule 12 of the 1972 local Government Act which obliged Town Councils to call a public meeting to which anyone was invited in order to discuss a key single agenda item. " The meeting was set for 7.30 on Monday 28th March and would be held at the Town Hall. The Mayor , who will chair the meeting, stressed that "..anyone could speak, under the usual conditions, but the only participants eligible to vote were the elected councillors. This motion is clearly something which is within our remit."

The Local Government Act says that 6 electors can request such a meeting . In this case the 6 signatories, Sally Jones, Bob Cudlip, Glen Burrows, Dave Chapple, Ian Tucker and Angela Tarr, submitted the following resolution.

"That this town believes that the sale of the Northgate site to Tesco Ltd will be detrimental both to the historic and cultural character of our town, and to the future of retail trading in the High Street and Eastover, where there are already clear and continuing signs of a serious down-turn in trade."

'TOWN MEETING' ASKED FOR TO LOOK AT NORTHGATE SALE

The Northgate site of the former Swimming pool

Bridgwater Forward have requested a Bridgwater Town meeting to discuss the sale of the Northgate site to Tesco Stores Ltd. because Sedgemoor District Council have refused to consult properly with local electors over this sale of publicly-owned land. This approach was tried recently In Yeovil as Ken Keable from Yeovil Trades Council reports.

The  Yeovil town meeting on the cuts in public services was held on 19^th February. This was the first such meeting in 15 years.  Everyone who wanted to speak was able to do so.

It is important to record the fact that no Conservatives turned up to defend their party’s policies. This seems to me to show contempt for the people of Yeovil and for the democratic process. I also think that our MP Mr Laws, who had been invited, should at least have sent an apology for his non-attendance, but he did not. As he is a strong supporter of the policy of cutting public expenditure, and hopes to return to the cabinet at a high level, perhaps this meeting would have been embarrassing for him. His Lib-Dem colleagues on the Town Council took the position of condemning the cuts locally that their party is imposing nationally (claiming that different services should have been cut, though they didn’t say which).  

Taunton student Rob Thompson speaks against the Coalition cuts

Two Lib-Dem councillors proposed an amendment to delete condemnation of the Coalition government, so that it would only condemn the (Tory- controlled) County Council, but this was lost and not even all the Lib-Dem councillors present supported it. This shows that the Lib-Dems are divided and deeply unhappy about the developing situation and that the Coalition does not exist at local level. This should become even more evident in the local elections on 5^th May.

As I said at the meeting, these cuts are not necessary at all. Britain is the fourth richest country in the world but the wealth is concentrated in very few hands. This concentration of vast wealth in fewer and fewer hands has grown ever more extreme under New Labour and is continuing. The solution is to make the super-rich and the big corporations pay more tax, not to cut services and benefits, which is deeply unjust and will only make the economic crisis worse by reducing demand for goods and services, thereby causing more company closures and more loss of jobs in the private sector.  It will also reduce the tax take.

A wealth tax of two per cent on the richest ten per cent of the population would raise £78 billion (still leaving them with 98 per cent of their wealth). A 20 per cent windfall tax on profits in the banking, energy, retail foods, arms and pharmaceutical industries would raise £16 billion. A “Robin Hood” tax on City financial transactions could raise £20 billion per year and a clampdown on tax dodgers and on British-ruled tax havens could raise £70 billion per year. That is not mentioning the £131 billion owed to the taxpayer by the bailed-out banks.

Protestors opposing the cutbacks

The cabinet in Whitehall contains 18 millionaires. The claim by Cameron, Osborne and Clegg – three millionaires -  that “we are all in this together” convinces fewer and fewer people, especially as the poorest and most vulnerable (who rely most on the services being cut) are being hardest hit although they did nothing to cause the crisis.

As I and other speakers from the Yeovil and District Trades Union Council said, the town meeting was not an end in itself but part of an ongoing campaign. The next part of this campaign is the national demonstration in London called by the TUC for Saturday 26^th March. The trades unions are providing buses from Yeovil, Bridgwater  and all over the UK to this great event and details can be found on our website. Already half a million people are expected. It is another opportunity to make our voices heard.

ALL CHANGE ON MAY 5TH ???

With only 3 months to go before important Town and District elections Bridgwater Forward is extremely concerned at yet another thundering silence from Sedgemoor District Council on an important area of Public interest. These elections will be the first chance for people to have their say on the decisions made by Tory controlled Sedgemoor over the past 4 years and ward boundaries have changed drastically.


Sedgemoor Labour Councillor Brian Smedley was on the sub committee that discussed possible changes and explains the process and outcome. 



The new Bridgwater Ward Boundaries



"When the Boundaries Commission chose Sedgemoor to be one of it's targets for change it was ostensibly to re-draw the electoral boundaries so that councillors represented equal numbers of constituents bearing in mind population changes. They were also looking at savings in terms of reducing numbers of councillors.

The sub committee set up by SDC spent most of its time arguing about specific streets- the West street, Bridgwater area being especially contentious, also the re-drawing of the Sydenham and Bower lines.. In particular the Tories constantly referred to 'my ward' as if specific areas were theirs by Feudal right of inheritance. At the end all 3 parties wrote their own submissions to the Boundaries Commission (who then made some half baked compromise and reduced the total number of councillors from 50 to 48). The Labour Group proposal in fact was that large towns such as Bridgwater should have 3 member wards, small towns should have 2 member wards and rural parishes should have single member.



The main changes for Bridgwater have in fact worked against the Tories reducing their 'safe' seats from 3 to 2 in the Durleigh area. In fact the former 'Quantock' ward which stretched from the Durleigh parish boundary through the Holford, Alfoxton, Co-op developments and from Quantock road and Durleigh road to North street has now been truncated at the Fairfield and Northfield. This has now been renamed WYNDHAM ward (largely because this was the 'house' name of this area during the Grammar school days being taken from the Royalist Governor of the Castle during the Civil war). This will return 2 District and 2 Town councillors.


The main change on the West side of the town is the creation of a WESTOVER ward. This ward includes the Town centre in it;s entirety plus the adjoining parts of West street, Camden,Blacklands and Anson surrounding the Northgate 'Tescos' site, plus Lyndale and the docks and then part of the old Hamp ward stretching from town centre to the start of Rhode lane. This will return 2 District Councillors and 3 town councillors.

The former VICTORIA ward has been moved slightly to the north so that it starts at Kendale road/Chilton street and then includes the new developments on the NDR. Again this will return 2 Town and 2 District councillors.

The HAMP ward has been reduced to the area of the old estate starting from the end of Rhode lane and being bounded by the Towns southern edge. Hamp will have 2 Town and 2 District councillors.

Across the river the EASTOVER ward remains totally untouched, bounded as it was and is by the river and the railway line. Again 2 Town and 2 District councillors.

The main East Bridgwater change is the re-drawing of the line in Sydenham. Whereas previously 'old' Sydenham had returned 3 members and stretched from railway line to a 2nd north-south line defining  the newer developments of Bower Manor and Silversprings, a new line has been drawn east-west across the junction of Fairfax road with Parkway thus creating a 3 member ward 'FAIRFAX' to the North of this -including the Sydenham rd/Bath road area plus Bower Manor and 'DUNWEAR' to the south of this including the Longstone end of Sydenham plus the Bridge estate, which will return 2 town and district members.

Politically this means that while currently the Party balance is 10 Labour (Hamp,Victoria,Eastover, Sydenham) 6 Tory (Quantock,Bower) the new wards , at a time of Tory unpopularity present a real opportunity for Labour to sweep the board.

Lib Dems have been rejected by Bridgwater voters for more than 10 years with not a single member surviving since the wipe out of 1999.

The remainder of Sedgemoor will be the battleground for the forthcoming election as since 1974 Bridgwater was subsumed into the District at the expense of its former powers as a Borough and is now submerged into this largely Tory district. Whereas in Bridgwater the balance is Labour 10 Conservative 6, the balance around the rest of Sedgemoor is Conservative 31 LibDem 3. This gives an overwhelming Tory majority on Sedgemoor of 37  Conservative against 10 Labour (the Bridgwater members) and 3 Lib Dem (entirely from the Burnham area).

Tory representation on Sedgemoor at 37 councillors is their highest ever and this means the 'Executive' is 100% Tory.

To gain sole control of SDC one party needs to achieve 25 seats. If no party achieves this then the Council goes to NOC (No Overall Control) The last time this happened was in 1995 when Labour took 13 seats (largely Bridgwater) and LibDems took 12 (largely rural). The Tories only regained control 3 years later when the so called 'independents' put on blue rosettes .

Voters will have 2 ballot papers on May 5th. One to choose their District Councillors and one to choose their Town Councillors. "

If anyone wants to know which ward they are in they can contact Brian Smedley on brian.smedley@sedgemoor.gov.uk

Bridgwater Forward decided at its meeting this week NOT to stand candidates at the Elections but promised to organise a series of hustings meetings around the Town to 'hold candidates to account' and to 'endorse them or otherwise'. 

Pete Smith said " current councillors are off-putting, and the experience of working with them soul-destroying".

Chris Hooper said "local councillors don’t listen and most are past their sell-by date. They need to do a job for the town. "

Glen Burrows said "Any councillor who voted for the closure of the Splash and the sale of Northgate to Tesco is not fit to represent the people of Sedgemoor and should not get anyone's vote"

Kathy Pearce (Sedgemoor Labour leader) says "These boundary changes give a far greater emphasis to the town centre.  Therefore anyone who has been unhappy with the Sedgemoor Tories' decision to close the Splash and to sell Northgate to Tesco, now have a real opportunity to say "enough is enough".  Labour has consistently opposed these policies, offering viable alternatives which would truly regenerate the town centre, which time after time have been ignored.  For the future prosperity and vibrancy of the town, it is vital that we encourage people to come into the town centre by enhancing the leisure aspect of Northgate and the Brewery Field, along with retail investment, which is sympathetic to the town centre."

Joe Leach (Sedgemoor Lib Dem leader) says ""The new boundaries are curiously arranged, however the Liberal Democrats are taking the fight to the Conservatives, particularly in the North of the district, where various boundary changes will see close fights between us".

Bob Cudlipp (Independent) said "We need to encourage people to vote and we need more independents!"