The Packhorse Fair on 30 May 2016 saw residents’ first chance to contribute to the Town Plan. 262 people visited the Town Plan marquee leaving 130 comments about the Plan and a further 37 comments about a visualisation of possible developments at Jubilee Park.
There’s a summary of the key messages below. Also available are:
- A full report of the event (which also covers Jubilee Park)
- A list of all the Town Plan comments received
- The Jubilee Park comments
The headlines
Speeding and parking stood out as the two most commonly mentioned issues. Thirteen of the fifteen 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 fifteen 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.
Dog poo/the need for more poo bins was mentioned by nine people; noise from the recent Gilcombe Farm festival and a desire to see the public toilets re-opened were each mentioned by eight. 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.
Eight 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 (six 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.
The response to the Jubilee Park proposals was overwhelmingly positive, with only two of the 37 comments being in any way critical. Many young people posted comments.
