A GROUP representing 135 Taunton businesses has called on two councils to stop playing “political games” and to get the town’s traffic moving. Taunton Chamber of Commerce is urging Somerset County Council and Somerset West and Taunton Council to put their differences aside so “motorists, shoppers and the local population” can “go about their everyday business”. The chamber was reacting to the congestion, caused by temporary traffic lights during road improvement works outside a new retirement flats development in Paul Street. The chamber has declined the councils’ offer to join a consultation around the future of East Street, saying companies need to be able to respond individually.
Exclusive: Jenrick moves to quell districts’ plan for reorganisation referendum
Communities secretary Robert Jenrick has waded into a row in Somerset between the two principal tiers of local government over districts’ plans to hold a referendum to ensure their residents’ views on reorganisation proposals are properly heard.
Councils in Somerset, along with those in North Yorkshire and Cumbria, are currently undergoing a consultation process on local government reorganisation that ends on Monday.
In Somerset, where the county’s proposal for a county-wide unitary is vying with the districts’ proposal for two new unitaries, the process has sparked antagonism between the two tiers, with South Somerset DC leader Val Keitch (Lib Dem) arguing the consultation process is “convoluted and complicated” and county council leader David Fothergill (Con) believing districts have “questions to answer” over some of the publicity tactics they have deployed.
Somerset County Council\ s Headquarters At County Hall In Taunton. CREDIT: Daniel Mumby. Free to use for all BBC wire partners. COUNCIL meetings in Somerset will continue to be streamed live over the internet even after the current coronavirus restrictions end. Somerset County Council and the four district councils have been conducting their business via virtual meetings since the first national lockdown was implemented in late-March 2020 at the start of the pandemic. The government revealed in a letter to civic leaders on March 25 that councillors and officers will have to begin attending public meetings in person again from May 7 – despite Boris Johnson’s roadmap banning large indoor gatherings until May 17 at the earliest.
Somerset County Council\ s Headquarters At County Hall In Taunton. CREDIT: Daniel Mumby. Free to use for all BBC wire partners. COUNCIL meetings in Somerset will continue to be streamed live over the internet even after the current coronavirus restrictions end. Somerset County Council and the four district councils have been conducting their business via virtual meetings since the first national lockdown was implemented in late-March 2020 at the start of the pandemic. The government revealed in a letter to civic leaders on March 25 that councillors and officers will have to begin attending public meetings in person again from May 7 – despite Boris Johnson’s roadmap banning large indoor gatherings until May 17 at the earliest.
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