Bridgwater – Good or Not?
Well what is good about it I hear you say, writes Cllr Gill Slocombe, leader of the Conservatives on Bridgwater Town Council.
We have a new MP for Bridgwater, Ashley Fox, so this is a good start!
I have lived in Bridgwater since I was five months old, so this is my town, your town, and are we going to see it go to rack and ruin? I hope not.
Let’s mend it and make it a sure secure place to live, work and socialise in.
Yes, we can do this, when we see things that are wrong, report it, make it a better place to live in.
I can hear you shouting already, 'the police won’t do anything', they won’t if you don’t report it, they are not mind readers.
It’s all of our responsibilities to ensure that we don’t let bad things happen in our town - it’s our responsibility to ensure we clean up our town.
It could be a great town, but we are all standing by, moaning about it - but who is actually doing anything?
Don’t leave it all to the politicians - the citizens of our town have a voice - so how can we do this?
We need independent shops, so they must have an incentive to come to Bridgwater.
Our town council has taken over the responsibilities from the district, so it is in all of our will to try to give skilled independent shops to be here.
We can do this not by walking away - come to the Town Council Forums and speak up for our town.
There are wardens, and would you believe we have a police town centre team who do different shift patterns throughout the day. Talk to them, speak to the wardens, tell the town council your thoughts.
The amount of anti-social behaviour in out our town centre is something we are not going to put up with.
Together, we need to clean up our town to return it to a good viable town centre where you feel safe to walk, eat and socialise in - this must be restored without fear or favour.
There are many homeless people living on the streets. Would you believe that some of them have chosen this way of life and some actually have somewhere to live?
It makes a town look rubbish, but I know there are lot of people working hard to get them of the street, we don’t want rough sleepers in the town centres, and we shouldn’t have it anymore.
Let’s not wait until the last shutter goes down.
National shops are moving out of towns because they want big delivery availability, car parking etc.
I believe Bridgwater needs independent dress shops, a nice shoe shop, a baby shop, even a toy shop, where children can once again glare in the window at wonderment.
I hear people say this is an old-fashioned idea, well let me tell you, some of the old ways were not that bad all compared to today’s findings.
Many years ago, I said that there will be no shops in Bridgwater it will just be all residential homes, do you want this?
I don’t believe the good folk of Bridgwater do.
Write to the Mercury or me and tell us what and how you think we can clean up our town, because time is very short, we need your help!
