“IT’S been an absolute shambles.” Those were the words of Somerset Councillor Diogo Rodrigues (Con, Bridgwater East & Badwrip) as he highlighted repeated delays to the Celebration Mile work in Bridgwater.
The government-funded scheme is creating a pedestrian and cycle route from the train station to the docks – but has been plagued by delays, leaving residents and businesses frustrated amid road closures and works.
Speaking at last week’s Full Council meeting (September 25), Cllr Rodrigues said the disruption has been “blighted by delay after delay” and pointed to Bridgwater Town Council (BTC) data that showed a drop of 80,000 in town centre footfall in the first quarter of this year compared with 2024.
He also spoke of missed deadlines for completion of the work – which has seen a number of road closures, notably in Eastover – which has spanned months.
On June 4, he said, Somerset Council’s lead member for transport, Cllr Richard Wilkins (Lib Dem, Curry Rival & Langport), told councillors that the works would finish on August 26 for Angel Crescent and Clare Street, and on September 15 for Eastover.
However, none of the deadlines were met, with work still ongoing – with a celebration to mark completion of the work cancelled.
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Cllr Rodrigues told the meeting: “Traders in Bridgwater, impacted by the works on Eastover, Angel Crescent and Clare Street, feel like they are being failed by this Council. It’s been an absolute shambles.
“Traders need to know when, finally, is this coming to an end?”
In response, Cllr Mike Rigby, lead member for economic development, said there had been “insufficient contingency planning” and that traders and the public had been informed “too late” of changes to the work timetable.
“We’re extremely sorry for the delays and disruption caused to traders and local people,” he added.
As previously reported by your Leveller, Cllr Rigby has called delays to the work “disappointing”.
Eastover in Bridgwater has been hard hit by road closures during work on the Celebration Mile. Picture: Google
Cllr Rigby said: “This is an important scheme to improve the shopping experience and open up the area for street events, such as entertainment and markets,” he said.
“We have always been fully committed to the concept, but I am very disappointed at how this has been delivered.
“We understand there will be challenges with a job of this scale, but there doesn’t appear to have been sufficient contingency planning around these in terms of increasing the pace of work, and at the same time both the council and public have been informed too late of delays, road closures and programme changes.
“When you compare this with other recently completed council infrastructure projects the performance here is simply not good enough.
“We are extremely sorry for the delays and disruption caused to traders and local people – we are having discussions with the contractor about our dissatisfaction with the way this has been handled.”
READ MORE: Bridgwater news from your Somerset Leveller
I fill really sorry for the shops in Eastover to think that a name called celebration mile. Will make it alot better are talking out there backside maybe if you had asked people in Bridgwater about you would have got more sense and people from Bridgwater on the council not out. Siders
If the contractors actually work instead of being on phone or standing around watching others work this would be completed ages ago. Every time we go to town it’s a complete nightmare with scaffolding and railings all over this works part,the pavements are horrible especially for my wheelchair bumpy,not all there,floor pads it’s a joke. Hire people who will work at getting this celebration mile completed soon.