Labour Candidate Speaks at Council meeting

Ian at Bridgwater House this week

Labour candidate for next weeks  Woolavington By election, Ian Tucker, spoke passionately at this weeks Sedgemoor District Council meeting calling on the authority to enter into serious negotiations with EDF to deliver swimming facilities to Bridgwater  and to reject plans for yet another supermarket.

The full text of Ians speech is below;-

"There is obviously still a lot of concern from the public about the building of Hinkley C, and therefore it is imperative that EDF addresses the concerns that the authorities have with both the stages 1 and 2 consultation process. ARUP have done a lot of work in evaluating EDF's proposals, and together with the authorities it is very re-assuring that a proper response to EDF is being developed in an attempt to address major concerns. 

There are two major concerns that I would like to mention in my limited time.


BRIDGWATER BY PASS It is felt that this is of the utmost importance for both relieving congestion and more importantly safety. Imagine the chaos if there were a major incident at the power station, with emergency vehicles trying to battle their way through parts of Bridgwater which are already grid locked. Save Cannington Action Group and others have put forward proposals for a dedicated road to Hinkley from Dunball ,and as stated in ARAPS report detailed reasons for rejecting this proposal must be given by EDF. The cost which has been estimated at only 1.5% of the total cost of the whole Hinkley project and delay considerations are not good reasons for rejection. I am not anti nuclear, but I feel without a dedicated road, for safety reasons alone, there could be an argument that the whole project should be scrapped.


COMMUNITY BENEFITS As recognised by the authorities the mitigation proposals have been disingenuous and £1M into a community fund to say the least is miserly. However I believe there is still room for discussion with EDF, particularly on specific projects and I have had some dialogue with EDF's Community Director concerning EDF's letter, dated 8th July last year, where they state a new swimming pool may be a candidate for investment. And as you know even Mr Rickards has been quoted in the press as saying we could even get two pools.

I have now, on behalf of most people in Bridgwater come to the stage of pleading with you to talk to EDF on the possibility of funding town centre swimming. With an influx of 5,000 workers what would be better for both EDF and the people of Bridgwater than to have a state of the art eco friendly pool in the centre of town that we can all be proud of.


Bridgwater Forward collected well over a 1000 signature petition in little more than three hours at Wembdon fete alone and the numbers signing grows by the day. 

WILL THE COUNCIL PLEASE RECOGNISE THAT WE DO NOT WANT OR NEED ANOTHER SUPERMARKET SO CLOSE TO THE TOWN CENTRE.

As I believe Cllr Herbert said this morning, individual voices must be heard. Please let EDF know not only what the council wants but what local people want."