The Town Centre Beat

On the weekend of 5 - 7 July Somerfest 2002, Bridgwater’s Community Arts Festival took place in and around the Town Centre. The Festival passed almost without incidence giving us the opportunity to meet locals and visitors to the area, all of whom seemed to be enjoying the events.

Summer is now upon us and burglaries to homes and businesses are on the rise. Most burglaries in the Town Centre are to offices with entry gained via roof tops or first floor windows. If you are reviewing security arrangements don’t think that a window is safe just because it is not on the ground floor. At home don’t forget to close windows when you go to bed or go out. If you are in your garden make sure the front of your house is secure.

We continue to work in partnership with the Town Centre Manager and Sedgemoor District Council to help reduce the fear of crime in Blake Gardens. We are looking forward to the centenary celebrations in the gardens. As part of this event on Saturday 10 August we are planning to have a stand promoting different aspects of crime prevention and the Town Centre and Officers will be on hand to answer any questions you may have. We look forward to seeing you there.

We have a new Inspector at Bridgwater Police Station. I would like to take the opportunity to thank Inspector Pitt for all his hard work and to welcome Inspector John Hart to Bridgwater. Inspector Hart has joined us from Taunton and is looking forward to working with the partnerships in Bridgwater. He has already approved the continuation of the extended loading period. This mainly affects businesses in the High Street.

Finally, we are still having too many cars broken into in Bridgwater. Please remember to remove all your property from your vehicles and secure them every time. "DON’T BOTHER" Leaflets are available from the Police Station, free of charge.

PC Shaun Desmond

Tel: 01823 363330 

Voice Mail 01823 363287 Box No 70474

Townscape Scheme Steaming Ahead

There is now a range of initiatives well underway to promote the regeneration of the town centre including the Townscape Heritage Initiative. This scheme targets, from a pot of grant aid, the repair and restoration of historic buildings and other projects directly in support of regeneration. This action plan is for the benefit of the town centre, it’s users, residents, visitors and particularly the local businesses and economy.

Some of the achievements of the T.H.I. are, or will be:

• Development of an outstanding quality new building on a long standing vacant site at St. Mary Street.

• Promote a rescue package for derelict historic buildings.

• Promoting a major enhancement scheme for the town’s principal building, the Cornhill, as focus of the regeneration strategy.

• Directly influencing the design quality of new developments in the town centre (eg new housing at Castle Moat and the completed housing at the Priory).

• Securing schemes for the development of derelict sites.

We have many other projects, either being worked up or coming to the boil, but they take time and determination. In short, the more we can swell the grant pot the more we can achieve. The actual T.H.I. contract is for four more years and we need to maximise our impact within this time for the benefit of everybody. An award of £400K from the Heritage Lottery Fund, which requires to be fully matched, makes up the grant pot. To date we have made substantial progress towards achieving the required amount from local business and other organisations but more is needed to allow the T.H.I. to hit all the projects it needs to in the town centre.

To keep the momentum rolling, we are holding a review/breakfast promotion of the T.H.I. to be held on 13 September 2002 at the Old Vicarage, St. Mary Street, Bridgwater. We would like all interested people to attend this event where we would be delighted to discuss progress and fund raising. 

If you would like to attend, or if you are busy that day but would like to talk or meet separately, please contact any of the below;

Helen Tasker 01278 435490,

Clive Lilley, Chair of the THI 01278 434507

Wendy White, Town Centre Manager 01278 446859

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