Two hundred and sixty-two people visited the Town Plan stand at the Packhorse Fair, leaving 120 comments on Post-it notes for the Town Plan Steering Group to digest. We are extremely grateful for the time and trouble that people took, and it was encouraging that there was no negativity. We will be using the comments to help develop our October residents’ survey.
You can read more about the Town Plan on the Town Plan page. If you want to add your own comment you can use the comments box at the very bottom of this page (a long way down) or email plan@brutontowncouncil.gov.uk. In either case we are unlikely to be able to respond to individual comments, but we will record them and take them into account as we develop the plan.
The headlines
Speeding and parking stood out as the two most commonly mentioned issues. Thirteen of the fourteen people who mentioned speeding wanted speed reduced (sometimes in specific locations, such as Dropping Lane and Frome Road) but one person thought that “20 is not plenty, keep it at 30”. The need for better enforcement of speed limits was mentioned by five people.
Parking was also mentioned by fourteen people and is clearly a very significant issue for the town. There were, however, more varied views than there were for speeding: “start charging for parking”; “absolutely do not start charging for parking”; “stop town centre car parking”; “build a car park” and “over-zealous traffic wardens” are some examples of the comments we received.
Three other issues were each mentioned by eight people: dog poo/the need for more poo bins; noise from the recent Gilcombe Farm festival and a desire to see the public toilets re-opened. Dog poo was no surprise as it is constant concern and source of complaints, but the strength of feeling about Gilcombe Farm and the public toilets was less expected.
Seven people kindly left comments that the town was already great and nothing needed to change: “Let Bruton be! It is a wonderful place to live.”
Other matters mentioned by several people were new housing (four for, two against), narrow pavements (five mentions), please keep Man on Bench (four), don’t move the surgery (four). Three people thought it would be good if the Dovecote was illuminated at night.
A full record of the comments follows below.
The detail
| Lovely town, let’s get a road to bypass it |
| Build a ByPass to take away heavy traffic, or our roads will collapse! |
| You’d be lucky [to get 20 mph], traffic at standstill up High Street as it is. |
| More cycle routes needed |
| Better footpath with dog bins between Village and Hauser & Wirth |
| Where is bridge for footpath [at Darkey Lane] |
| Proper warning and HGV notice at all approaches to town, even as far away as Hunters Lodge |
| Speed limits are fine as they are they just need enforcement. Better to stop lorries breaking weight limit |
| Too much heavy traffic along High Street, plus extra wide vehicles which cause blockages |
| Two hour parking, Silver Street |
| Stop Town Centre parking |
| Parking – Packhorse Fair!! Street only cleaned one side. Town needs more parking. |
| Residents’ parking, Lusty |
| Residents’ parking |
| Pedestrianise the High Street for all to use safely. Build a car park. Stop closing the damn roads |
| Absolutely do not start charging for parking |
| Start charging for parking |
| Please don’t!! [charge for parking] |
| High Street parking needs MORE enforcement, not less |
| Aggressive targeting by over-zealous traffic wardens is detrimental to business, give some slack |
| Keep free parking |
| Surface of Station Car Park |
| Quaperlake – pavements wide enough for people and prams |
| Make Bruton an accessible Town |
| Improvement pavement to town from Station Road |
| Pavement from Church Bridge to Godminster [Station Road] Car Park in a dreadful condition, DANGEROUS |
| Mobility scooters or wheelchairs in High Street is impossible |
| Proper 40 mph speed enforcement at top of hill [Dropping Lane], small hamlet, narrow road and very fast cars |
| Traffic slow down |
| Back up 20 mph with penalties at present too many speeding around town evening and overnight, dangerous when children walking to and from school |
| Speed limits throughout the town please |
| Calming traffic from under railway bridge to Budgens. Coaches parking at bus stop – not good place for bus stop. |
| 20 is not plenty, keep it 30 |
| Speeding, dropping lane, please! |
| Speeding in Station Road leading to dropping lane |
| Bumps or something in Quaperlake St |
| Enforcement of speed limits through the town |
| Speed control on Frome Road like on Cole Road, please |
| Enforce speed limits! Enforce truck weight limits! |
| Plus one [enforce speed limits and weight restrictions] |
| 20 miles per hour! |
| Better access Station [? Not clear] |
| Proper signage at [library] junction, warning road narrows and no HGV’s |
| Convert Park Wall to One Way St, from Godminster Lane to Dropping Lane |
| A359 Junction High St / Quaperlake St, Slow / Stop sign needed from High Street to Quaperlake |
| Mirror at bottom of Coombe Hill, so drivers coming down Quaperlake Street can see if traffic is coming down |
| Right of Way at the end of the High Street? |
| Change bottom of Park Road to One Way, dangerous where road narrows with children leaving and going to school |
| Another waste bin in Berkeley Gardens |
| Some more dog bins |
| Dog poo bin here [Tolbury Lane] |
| Need Council drive to stop dog poo’s being left on paths and roads. Take it home/bin it |
| Dog mess everywhere, more bins needed |
| Dog poo bins, Vineys Yard and Parking Vineys Yard |
| Dog poo bin at top of Cuckoo Hill |
| Please, please light up the Dovecote |
| Flowers on Station Road approach – wild ones |
| Keep man on the bench |
| Keep man on the bench |
| Keep man on the bench |
| Keep man on the bench and promote rural look suitable for Bruton |
| New housing needed BUT stop highways ‘urbanising’ e.g. with hideous street lights |
| More buildings [housing] for local families |
| Give the town a pressure wash, lovely buildings looking mucky |
| Better entrance to Bruton signs, not so cheap looking |
| Please, please, please sort out street name signs, particularly Mill Lane |
| Better street cleaning |
| A wild flower meadow |
| More dog waste bins |
| Revive the High Street |
| Create a community jobs board for paid and volunteer positions |
| No more coffee shops |
| An area for small industrial units, i.e. business park |
| More focus and promotion of business such as Truffles in the west end, which are not even on current Tourist map |
| Campsite required here [above Tolbury Mill] |
| Light up the Dovecote |
| Light up the Dovecote, like many historic structures |
| More information on public footpaths & routes |
| Publically accessible gym |
| Events as listed all very good, local societies thriving |
| Toilet and Baby Changing in the new community hall at Jubilee Park open during the day to public! Kid Park |
| If you want more visitors to Town, open the public loos! |
| Encore that [re-open public loos] |
| Re-open the public loos |
| Yes re-open public loos, it was mad to close them |
| Yes me too! [re-open the public loos] |
| Plus one [re-open the public loos] |
| Re-open the toilets in the town |
| Please re-open the loos |
| Playground for older children |
| Make stream accessible and make it clean and easy to sit next to |
| Join Bruton buddies to help our community |
| Desperate need for an old folks’ home |
| Set up a dog poo wormery |
| Couldn’t sleep 2 nights in a row, unacceptable noise. |
| INCESSANT anti-social noise generated by Gilcombe Farm Festival, totally unfair and unacceptable! |
| Would be good if festivals normally stopped at midnight |
| Cease fesitvals and loud music from Gilcombe Farm |
| No fireworks on a Sunday night at Gilcombe Farm |
| Ban Gilombe Farm from doing as they please with parties and festivals |
| Limit amount of Gilcombe festivals and enforce low sound levels |
| Too many loud and v. late festivals at Gilcombe Farm |
| It’s lovely as it is, don’t change it |
| Please no more changes, leave Bruton alone |
| Bruton is perfect, I love it |
| Let Bruton Be! It is a wonderful place to live |
| It’s lovely, love everything, including gallery |
| I love Bruton, very friendly! |
| Charming Town, don’t change a thing esp. not new housing estates |
| New housing needed |
| No more new housing estates, please |
| If only life were that simple [response to no new housing estates] |
| Set up a park and ride for Gilcombe Farm festivals visiting local supermarkets |
| General parking and lack of Police just on patrol. Lived here 6 years, NEVER seen a policeman on patrol. |
| Police VOLUNTEER liaisons who work from public area, such as community hall or library, policing issues such as speed, anti-social behaviour, or other concerns can be raised. Volunteers have direct contact with Police in Wincanton |
| Sort out why can’t transfer why can’t transfer from boarding to day [school] if move |
| Don’t move the Doctor, because people will drive to Frome, damaging town shops |
| yes keep it [the doctor’s surgery] where it is |
| Don’t move the Dr’s surgery out of town. |
| Don’t move it [the doctors’ surgery] |
No more “wild” flowers. Riverside walk looks a mess for much more of the year than it looks good!
Dropping lane is in desperate need of an enforced speed limit.
The sooner the better following yet another accident this week!
The festivals are only two weekends a year, some of us locals both enjoy going to them and do feel a financial benefit from them.