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Controversial one-way system to remain in town

Ruth BradleySomerset political reporter
News imageBBC The one-way system at Salmon Parade and East Quay in Bridgwater. There's a bridge over a river and no entry signs. There's a worker in a high-viz jacket. A lorry is coming towards the camera.BBC
More than 6,000 people signed a petition against the one-way system on Salmon Parade and East Quay in Bridgwater

A controversial one-way road system is to stay in place despite 6,000 people signing a petition calling for it to be changed.

Local trader Mandy Maskell said the scheme on East Quay and Salmon Parade in Bridgwater, Somerset was an "utter mess" and "chaos".

The roads were made one-way last year as part of the Celebration Mile project to create a pedestrian-priority path from Bridgwater train station, through the town centre, to the docks.

After a review, Somerset councillors voted on Wednesday to keep the system for now but committed to a further review in future.

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The review commissioned by Somerset Council found there was no evidence of the one-way system causing "acute congestion" in the wider town.

It also said making changes could undermine the council's aim of reducing traffic in the town centre.

The one-way system fully opened in November last year.

Ashley Fox, the Conservative MP for Bridgwater, had previously said the changes were "clogging up the town" - while Richard Wilkins, the Lib Dem councillor in charge of highways, said the system needed "time to settle in".

The review was ordered after thousands of people signed a petition against the changes.

In May, parking bays were reinstated on Salmon Parade, which had been removed earlier in the works.

News imageNew road layout sign in the distance. There are turn right only markings on the road. There's a traditional old Victorian style housing block on the street in front. There's a no entry sign and cones. There are tress on a pavement to the left of the image.
Local businesses previously told the BBC that they wanted the changes "reversed immediately"

Mike O'Dowd-Jones, Somerset Council service director for infrastructure and transport, told the meeting on Wednesday any traffic problems in the town should not be characterised as "gridlock" or "traffic chaos".

Mandy Maskell, a trader in Eastover Indoor Shopping Centre, also spoke at the meeting.

Maskell said it was "absolutely clear" the "most effective solution for traffic flow" in the town was the reinstatement of two-way traffic.

She accused the council of putting an "abstract vision that appeared increasingly disconnected from the realities experienced by the community" ahead of the interests of local businesses and residents.

Councillor Mike Rigby, Lib Dem lead member for economic development, said: "All schemes that alter traffic flow will be subject to a lot of heat initially.

"The scheme was specifically designed to create a more pleasant and better-connected shopping environment and that's been delivered - albeit at the cost of slightly longer journey times."

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