LUCKY 19

Bridgwater Labour Party Lotto Club has paid out £100 to its first winner !

Kate O’Byrne of Over Stowey is the holder of number 19 – which was the bonus ball in the first Saturday Lotto draw of August. The attached picture shows her receiving her cheque for £100.

The Lotto Club now has 41 members and will be a valuable source of funds for the Party. All the profits go straight to our new Campaign Fund, to be spent on political campaigning.

The chance to win £100 costs just £4 a month. To join, contact me. If you’re already a member – you could be the next winner. Good luck!

Andy Lewis

CLP treasurer

westsomersetlabour@hotmail.co.uk

LABOUR PUTS BY PASS PRESSURE ON EDF

EDF Transport Assessment

A Community Scrutiny Committee of Sedgemoor District Council met on August 10 to examine in detail the decision by EDF Energy not to recommend a Bridgwater Bypass as part of the development proposals for the new Hinkley Point C Power Station.

The meeting was arranged following the presentation of a 1400 name petition to the council saying that EDF Energy should not be allowed to start work on the new plant until a bypass had been built to relieve congestion in Bridgwater. As a result of the meeting EDF  will be asked to submit a report to the Infrastructure Planning Commission on the local impact of the proposed development. 
 

Held in the YMCA, Friarn Street, the all-day meeting which was chaired by Labour Councillor Julian Taylor (Eastover) was addressed by representatives of parish councils and wards as well as from EDF Energy. Following a session of questions and answers, councillors agreed to the following resolution:

   "This committee recognises the overwhelming community support expressed at this meeting for a Northern Bridgwater by-pass. The Scrutiny committee urges EDF not to submit a Development Consent Application to the IPC until such time as EDF have robustly and comprehensively assessed traffic impact and means to mitigate it, including a truly comparative assessment of a Northern By-pass and online improvements, to the satisfaction of the Local Authorities. The assessment should align with the NATA/Webtag methodology stipulated in Department of Transport Guidance.

    In the absence of this robust assessment of transport options by EDF, the Council should contribute financial and officer support to the completion of such a study working with the Highways Agency, Somerset County Council and West Somerset Council as appropriate.  It should be completed in the most comprehensive level of detail that can reasonably be achieved prior to the submission of a Development Consent Order application for Hinkley Point C.  It is recommended that this study should form the basis of a decision by the Council on highway matters, when the Council sets out its position to the Infrastructure Planning Commission in a Local Impact Report. This work should commence immediately."

Cllr Taylor-"EDF's duty of care"

Chairman Julian Taylor said " I am   pleased that local people from Bridgwater and the surrounding communities had the opportunity to speak in support of a sorely needed Northern  by-pass for Bridgwater.  I hope that EDF will recognise its duty of care towards the community and get on with providing a by-pass as soon as possible as part of the Hinkley Point development. " 

Cllr Lerry "Denied opportunity"

Cllr Mick Lerry (Bridgwater Victoria) spoke forcibly at the meeting saying   "It  was clear from the presentation from EDF and Somerset County Council that the real assessment for a bypass had not been considered as an alternative to the proposed road junction alterations in Bridgwater,  because EDF refused to submit their proposals on the Bridgwater bypass to Somerset County Council and Sedgemoor District Council, instead they would only submit the bypass proposal to the Infrastructure Planning Commission. The people of Bridgwater were being denied  the opportunity to be consulted on the bypass, because of a policy decision made by EDF at head office level. Consequently a real traffic assessment has not been carried out."

Labour Councillors Support Call for 'Local List' to save Bridgwater's Heritage

In the light of the recent demolition of the Colley Lane Drying sheds the question of Bridgwater's industrial and architectural heritage has been brought to  the publics attention following an angry letter from the Chairs of Bridgwater Forward Dave Chapple and Sally Jones in which they attack Sedgemoor District Council for 'Official vandalism".

In an angry letter to the Mercury, Dave and Sally write "When this letter is printed, Bridgwater’s last brickyard drying sheds will have been demolished: destroyed, that is, by official council vandalism masquerading as ‘planning permission.’ We refer to the distinctive long, low wooden-slatted sheds at the Pathfinder Terrace end of Colley Lane. These drying sheds, dating probably from the late 19^th century, belonged to the firm of H J and C Major Ltd. The Colley Lane brick and tile makers, members of Ernie Bevin and Jimmie Boltz’ TGWU/Transport and General Workers Union, played their part in the town’s distinctive and often turbulent working-class history. On behalf of our campaign group Bridgwater Forward, we have to register our disgust and anger that such a vital link to our industrial past has been destroyed."

Dave Chapple added "Who is responsible? Have the decency to own up! Hang your heads in shame! Did those who voted to grant planning permission for demolition of the drying sheds for housing know anything of their history?Do any of these planning officials or councillors live in Bridgwater?"

Bridgwater Forward says that some nine months ago the Bridgwater Civic Society brought this matter to the council’s attention and that nothing was done.  They also say that there is also a possibility that some of Bridgwater’s oldest houses-(3-7 North St) may also be under threat.

Dave Chapple adds "If we were talking about a fine old country mansion in the Polden Hills, would there be this same distinct indifference? Vandals, if caught, may get punished, but how can Bridgwater people prevent such “official vandalism” by those who have a duty of care to preserve our town?"

Cllr Taylor calling for 'Local List'

Cllr Julian Taylor & Cllr Dave Loveridge (Labour Eastover) have been campaigning to try to save the Drying Sheds and are now calling for a 'Local List' in support of the Civic Society.

Cllr Taylor says " We have been trying to get this building listed for the last year The council have refused to introduce a local list.    Similarly with North Street.  The Local List was started when James White was conservation Officer in 2007, when he left the list was ‘lost’ .  The drying sheds are one of two remaining, the other is in the Drove . It's clear  the result is that we are losing our heritage for short term gain. The next to go could be  the Crypton building. "

Glen Burrows of Bridgwater Forward on the demolition site

Cllr Brian Smedley (Bridgwater Westover) , visiting the demolition site with members of Bridgwater Forward , supported Cllr Taylor's call for a Local List    "We should now  press to have this list so that the built environment heritage in Bridgwater is not lost to rapacious developers.  Because we do not havea local list we have lost these brick drying shedsand  next to go could be the  Art Deco Crypton Building  on Bristol Road,  and the 1930's cinema on Penel Orlieu   as well as the North street cottages. Why has there been no Conservation Area Appraisal in Bridgwater since the areas were first designated in the 1970s? Because it has not been seen to be a priority so maybe it is now time to make it one. I would urge groups such as the Town Council to get together with the Civic Society and Bridgwater Forward to make this campaign a reality"

CLOSE VOTE SCUPPERS BREWERY FIELD SELL OFF REVIEW

Labour councillors disappointed at Scrutiny Committee outcome

Sedgemoor Labour Groups attempts to get the decision to dispose of the Brewery Field made by Corporate Director Doug Bamsey reviewed and taken back to full council for further reflection in the light of Public concerns was defeated today at a meeting of the Corporate Scrutiny committee by 5 votes to 4. Tory committee members proposed that the decision be accepted and no further action taken. 3 Labour councillors and 1 independent voted against.

Committee chairman Cllr Brian Smedley (Labour,Westover) said "Since the decision was taken to turn Northgate into a Tesco-Extra  , public opposition has grown. The recent election saw the loss of 4 Tory seats in the town and the new Town Council recently voted to press Sedgemoor to review the policy. In the light of this the decision by Mr Bamsey had to be challenged and Public opposition reflected . Mr Bamsey had totally failed to respond to a Labour group letter listing key pointers against his decision. This is why we chose to go for a 'Call-In' ."

The First Corporate Scrutiny meeting of the new council was run in a accordance with the new Chairman's stated aim of 'Constructive Inclusivity' whereby the room was set up Round table style  and michrophones were provided for members of the Public to contribute to the ongoing debate and question the officer several times as opposed to the usual proceedure whereby members of the Public were given 3 minutes at the start of each meeting.

Kath Pearce agrees with Alec Westerns call for 'reflection'

29 Members of the public were in attendance including many from the campaign Group BRIDGWATER FORWARD who have been leading the campaign against the Northgate project. 9 members of the Public spoke although Sedgemoors legal officer was constantly advising that questions mustn't stray into 'planning matters' - which caused some frustration. One speaker commented "I would suggest the deputy monitoring officer wear red instead of green socks.  He was all stop and no go! "

Labour group leader cllr Kath Pearce (Bridgwater Westover) who opened the meeting with a summary of the case against the decision said " We tried a last ditch attempt to overturn the disposal of the brewery field and despite the Tory majority voting down the chance for a review  we remain opposed to the disposal on the grounds that there can be no guarantee that Tesco will not overturn any covenant or Section 106 Agreement to preserve it for posterity.  We also questioned the need to dispose of the Brewery Field if Tesco don't actually want to build on it. I also feel that residents spoke well and with passion, expressing their concern that this land would not remain in public ownership and the Tories ignore this at their peril."

Corporate Scrutiny Committe member Councillor Mike Lerry (Labour, Victoria) said "The officers did not advise that aspects of the call in were outside of the remit of the committee, for example retail/economic impact assessment and this led to dissapointment from the Public present. However, the meeting showed that  the Labour Group will continue to campaign on behalf of Bridgwater people with a united approach from Town and District members. Also it's important that the greater  involvement of the public could lead to possibly a change in old habits of engaging with citizens which is long overdue."

Cllr Ian Tucker

Veteran campaigner Ian Tucker (Labour,Dunwear) said "I think the outcome of the meeting was as we expected but I thought it was good to keep the subject in the public eye, A few of us have now got a chance on Friday to bring the matter up with Ian Liddell-Grainger MP. High on the list will be to ask him how he feels about SDC going against the majority of people in Bridgwater, the Bridgwater Challenge, LDF and the subsequent core strategy with regard to leisure, open spaces and the development of the high street. Policy D16 in the core strategy states 'Development proposals that would result in the loss of land or recreational and/or amenity value or unacceptable impact upon the residential amenityof occupants of nearby dwellings and any future occupants will not be supported'  . Virtually everyone agrees that it would have been preferable to see recreational use on Northgate but no one had been forthcoming to build anything as these facilities did not make money. I believe that things are changing in the retail market with the big stores failing and in some towns the small trader even enjoying a come back. It would be a disaster if the 7 retail outlets adjoining Tesco were built only to find Boots and W H Smith moving into them damaging the high street even more or for some of them remaining unused. Surely the remaining site should be used for leisure and not further retail which Tesco could easily grab as an extension."

The next stage of the fight to save Bridgwater's key town centre open space looks set for the Planning Committee.

ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETING AND LABOUR SETS OUT SOME GROUND RULES

The Sedgemoor Labour Group at Annual Council

Sedgemoor District Council has held it's first meeting since the Tory majority was reduced at the recent Elections and the newly strengthened Labour group has made it clear that it has a strong mandate  to speak for  the people of Bridgwater and the ruling group needs to recognise this.

As Tory leader Duncan McGinty announced his , exclusively rural, Portfolio team, Cllr Mick Lerry (Labour Bridgwater Victoria) stood to request that this new reality be reflected in the composition of the Sedgemoor Executive committee saying "The leader is not being inclusive and there should now be a review of the Governance of SDC. There is a clear need for a challenge within the Executive as there are only Conservative councillors on it and also not one Bridgwater Councillor, which makes up over one third of the residents of sedgemoor, has been chosen. !"

The Tory and Labour teams revealed.

Leader DUNCAN McGINTY (East Polden) .......Shadow KATHY PEARCE (Bridgwater Westover)

Dep Leader DAWN HILL (Cheddar ).................Shadow JULIAN TAYLOR (Bridgwater Eastover)

Environment RICHARD BURDEN (Wedmore) Shadow REG WINSLOW (Bridgwater Fairfax)

Community JOHN SWAYNE (Petherton).... Shadow IAN TUCKER (Bridgwater Dunwear)

Corporate ANN BOWN (Wembdon) ................Shadow LEIGH REDMAN (Bridgwater Dunwear)

Planning STUART KINGHAM (West Polden) ......Shadow GRAHAM GRANTER (Bridgwater Fairfax)

Economic ANN FRASER (Petherton) ..........Shadow ADRIAN MOORE (Bridgwater Hamp)

Housing ANDREW GILLING (Knoll)......... Shadow MICK LERRY (Bridgwater Victoria)

To step up the pressure on the Tory Executive the Labour group will chair the 2 Scrutiny committees which can  'Call in' their decisions for closer scrutiny in the style of parliamentary select committees. The new chairmen are  Cllr JULIAN TAYLOR (Community) and Cllr BRIAN SMEDLEY (Corporate) -the latters appointment being greeted with an audible 'Good Heavens!" from McGinty.

The Labour group, now 13 strong (and taking up 3 rows of council seats!) are joined on the vague left by 2 rival Liberal factions following the massive bloodletting in Highbridge. Elder Statesmen-Chris Williams and Mike Mansfield , have formed an 'Independents group' and sit on a small table  some distance from the 'official' Liberal Democrats -Joe Leach and His  group (that's a lady called Kate Lawson) -who share the end of a table with some Tory backbenchers) . Williams pointed out that the Tories have also "..totally ignored Burnham & Highbridge in their Executive  too  which now means 75% of Sedgemoor residents aren't represented on it".

The first challenge of the new Tory council will be their ability or indeed willingness to proceed with the Tescos development and the sale of Northgate - a decision now imminent and in the hands of corporate director Doug Bamsey.

NEW SEDGEMOOR LABOUR GROUP MEETS TO ELECT OFFICERS

Kathy Pearce- re-elected Group Leader

The newly elected 13 strong Sedgemoor District Labour Group met today to assess the post election situation on the Council which sees the Tory majority slashed from 24 to 14.

Whilst the group is still not strong enough to achieve a controlling influence on the Council it remains the main opposition Group and will therefore nominate Leader of opposition, Shadow portfolio holders and increase it's representation on committees.

The Liberal Democrats, whose number fell to 2 , are  now considering operating as a stand alone group or attempting to make an arrangement with the 2 Liberal Independents  who may form a seperate 2 man group or combine to form a mighty liberal bloc of 4.



Mick Lerry -newly elected Chairman

 The Labour group elected KATHY PEARCE as Group Leader with JULIAN TAYLOR as deputy.
MIKE LERRY was elected Chairman of the group with BRIAN SMEDLEY as secretary ALEC GLASSFORD as treasurer and STEVE AUSTEN as group Whip.

Shadow portfolios and committee places were elected and allocated and will be announced at Annual Council on May 18th.

Bridgwater Town Labour Group has re-elected JOHN TURNER as Chairman .

LABOUR HOLD BRIDGWATER WITH INCREASED MAJORITY AND MAKE GAINS ON SEDGEMOOR

Although the Tories still remain in control of Sedgemoor District Council their majority has been cut from 24 to 14 as Labour make 3 gains from Tory in Bridgwater and Independents take 2 seats in Highbridge. Lib Dems hold onto 2 seats in Highbridge and Burnham South but are routed everywhere else.

Labour took the Bridgwater seats of Hamp ,Victoria, Westover, Eastover, Dunwear and Fairfax kicking out 4 sitting Tory councillors in the process and leaving them with only 2 in their west Bridgwater Wyndham hideaway.  However, failed to make the breakthrough in Highbridge, Puriton/Woolavington and North Petherton needed to gain control.

The LibDems bitter fight with former liberals in Highbridge saw them split the seats with just Joe Leach surviving their but ex liberals Mansfield & Williams making gains. The Lib Dems also held their  solitarity Burnham South/Central seats.

Big Tory names ousted include David Preece, Mike Cresswell,David Hall and Barry Crow - all Bridgwater Tories who voted to demolish the Splash, plus Paul Herbert, former Sedgemoor Housing Executive member.

On Bridgwater Town Council Labour took 14 out of the 16 seats, kicking out 4 Tories and strenghtening control.

 old council (50 Cllrs)  Conservative – 37  Labour – 10    Lib Dem 3 –                                                                                                                                                              
  new council(48 cllrs)Conservative – 31 Labour – 13  Lib Dem – 2  Ind – 2

Elected members are:-

Axevale                                          DENBEE                            John Henry                              Con*

Axevale                                          SCOTT                               Liz                                            Con*

Berrow                                           GRIMES                             Tony                                        Con*

Bridgwater Dunwear                      REDMAN                           Leigh Paul                                Lab

Bridgwater Dunwear                      TUCKER                            Ian Charles                                     Lab

Bridgwater Eastover                      LOVERIDGE                      David Peter                             Lab

Bridgwater Eastover                      TAYLOR                             Julian                                              Lab

Bridgwater Fairfax                         GLASSFORD                    Alex                                         Lab

Bridgwater Fairfax                         GRANTER                         Graham John                          Lab

Bridgwater Fairfax                         WINSLOW                         Reg                                          Lab

Bridgwater Hamp                           AUSTEN                            Steve                                       Lab

Bridgwater Hamp                           MOORE                             Adrian John                                    Lab

Bridgwater Victoria                        LERRY                               Mick                                         Lab

Bridgwater Victoria                        RICHARDS                        Ken                                          Lab

Bridgwater Westover                     PEARCE                            Kathy                                       Lab*

Bridgwater Westover                     SMEDLEY                          Brian David                                     Lab*

Bridgwater Wyndham                    BAKER                               David Lionel                             Con*

Bridgwater Wyndham                    SLOCOMBE                      Gill                                                  Con*

Burnham Central                           CLARKE                             Michael                                    Con

Burnham Central                           DAVEY                               Dennis                                     Con*

Burnham Central                           LAWSON                           Kate                                         LD

Burnham North                              BURRIDGE-CLAYTON     Peter Laurence                        Con*

Burnham North                              JONES                               Neville                                      Con*

Burnham North                              SMOUT                              Ken                                                 Con

Cannington & Wembdon               BOWN                                Ann Elizabeth                          Con*

Cannington & Wembdon               DYER                                 Ian                                            Con

Cheddar & Shipham                      DOWNING                         Peter John Shilton                   Con*

Cheddar & Shipham                      HILL                                    Dawn Mary                              Con*

Cheddar & Shipham                      SAVAGE                            Jeffrey Ernest                         Con*

East Poldens                                  McGINTY                           Duncan                                    Con*

Highbridge & Burnham Marine      LEACH                               Joe                                           LD*

Highbridge & Burnham Marine      MANSFIELD                      Mike                                         Ind

Highbridge & Burnham Marine      WILLIAMS                          Chris                                        Ind

Huntspill & Pawlett                         MORETON                        Jane Charlotte                         Con*

Kings Isle                                        ALDER                               Derek Stanley                         Con*

Kings Isle                                        TURNER                            Nobby Turner                                 Con*

Knoll                                               FILMER                              Bob                                          Con*

Knoll                                               GILLING                             Andrew                                    Con*

North Petherton                             BRADFORD                      Alan Sydney Ernest                Con*

North Petherton                             FRASER                            Anne Elizabeth                        Con*

North Petherton                             SWAYNE                           John Hardy                                     Con*

Puriton & Woolavington                 HAMLIN                             Alison June                              Con*

Puriton & Woolavington                 HEALEY                             Mark                                        Con*

Quantocks                                     CASWELL                          Michael Graham                     Con

Quantocks                                     PAY                                    Julie Annette                            Con

Wedmore & Mark                          BAYLISS                            Diana                                       Con*

Wedmore & Mark                          BURDEN                            Richard                                    Con*

West Poldens                                 KINGHAM                          Stuart Arthur                                   Con