A PETITION has been launched to stop the Celebration Mile works in Bridgwater following concerns from business owners in Eastover and Cornhill about the impact on trade and footfall.  

Mandy Maskell, of Posh Recycled in Eastover Indoor Shopping Centre, started the petition to demonstrate the level of dissatisfaction with the scheme. At time of writing, there have been 52 signatories.

You can view the petition here: https://bit.ly/3VdRIHh

“I know we won’t be able to put a stop to the Celebration Mile, but the fact of the matter is that I feel Somerset Council has railroaded the project through”, Mandy commented.

Somerset Council has previously confirmed that “there’s no way to avoid some disruption during the construction phase – we have always been clear that we expect the work to take about a year to complete.”

Read More: Fury as Celebration Mile works to continue until August 2025

Read More: Bridgwater traders react to negative impact of roadworks

In a letter to local businesses from Taylor Woodrow, the next phase of the roadworks will see that, from 2 to 24 December 2024, the lower part of Eastover and Church Street will re-open with traffic flowing in both directions.

The letter also confirms that during this period, a one-way system will be established between Church Street and East Quay for drainage to be installed. There will be a brief pause in roadworks from Christmas Eve to January 2, 2025, from which point roadworks will remain “ongoing”.

Road signage in the vicinity of the roadworks in Eastover states that the road would be closed “for 12 weeks from 19 August 2024.” Somerset Council last week confirmed it would ensure the signage displayed the correct information “going forward”, but this has not yet been rectified.