Somerset Council incompetent over town revamp - MP

Sir Ashley Fox says plans to regenerate Bridgwater are in fact causing businesses to suffer

Bridgwater Conservative MP Sir Ashley Fox has accused Somerset Council of being "incompetent" in its handling of the town's Celebration Mile regeneration project.

It is one of 11 schemes being delivered as part of Bridgwater Town Deal, which is bringing £23.2m of government investment.

But Sir Ashley says a combination of the improvements and a series of roadworks is causing "chaos" . "I believe they've implemented this in an incompetent way." he told Radio Somerset.

Somerset Council said in a statement it understood concerns, adding: "Our officers and lead members have met people face to face during the last few months to hear concerns and answer questions, and visited businesses".

Sir Ashley went on to remark: "I get the impression that they really don't care."

Celebration Mile will create a pedestrian route linking the town's train station to the docks, providing "cleaner" access to community facilities, retail and parks, the council says.

The money comes from the Towns Fund, launched by the Conservatives under Boris Johnson in 2019 with the aim of regenerating "down at heel streets" across the country.

Sir Ashley told a BBC Radio Somerset political hotseat interview: "They have ignored local businesses, they've caused real anger and disruption.

"We have seen footfall drop by over 400,000 in the last year. The council need to come up with a plan to finish it as quickly as possible."

The Lib Dem-run Somerset Council responded saying: "The decision to close Eastover wasn't taken lightly , it was down to various challenges such as unmapped utility services. The team is now making good progress".

Sir Ashley Fox appeared on a political hotseat broadcast on BBC Radio Somerset, hosted by Charlie Taylor

Sir Ashley also said housing was the "number one" issue that constituents contacted his office about.

He said: "Despite the fact that there are building sites everywhere, new housing is being built everywhere not always with the proper infrastructure to support them."

Bridgwater is next to what has been hailed as Europe's biggest construction site, EDF's Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, along the west Somerset coastline.

Thousands of workers have moved to the area as a result, which in turn has placed pressure on the housing market.

Earlier this month, EDF announced a temporary campus next to junction 24 of the M5, housing 1,000 workers.

Andrew Cockcroft, head of stakeholder relations at Hinkley Point C, said: "The planned new temporary campus is an important step in easing pressure on the local housing market.

"It will also create 90 new jobs available to people in Bridgwater."