Published: November 21, 2008
In photos: 'Grot spots' visited by Highbridge task force

A task force of councillors, police and council bosses performed a walkabout of Highbridge on Thursday (November 20th) to see for themselves the 'grot spots' in the town that need improving.

They were there to see the areas of the town that need attention and draw up a hit-list of what needs to be done.

The group of a dozen people - who included Highbridge councillors Chris Williams and Joe Leach plus local PCSOs Gill Udall and Claire Chambers - visited various parts of Highbridge to draw up the list of issues, which include graffiti, damaged signs, vandalism and litter to tackle in coming months. A similar exercise was carried out in Burnham-On-Sea last month.

"The aim was to identify as many of the problem areas around the town as possible so we can have a concentrated effort on blitzing them," town councillor Eric Gill told Burnham-On-Sea.com.

"We want to tackle the problems head on and get them sorted by involving the county, district and town councils plus local police. This will be followed up with a return visit to see the progress and to check if anything else needs to be done."

Graffiti-strewn bins and signs in Apex Park are on the list of improvements to be considered by the group:

PCSOs and councillors discussed a tidy-up of grassland and hedges surounding Highbridge train station:

The group is keen to sort out damaged fences and signs in the Sparks Way area of the town, seen below:

The group visited the Somerset Way area of the town, where several unadopted roads need to be cleaned up:

Land outside Highbridge's Somerfield supermarket, just off Market Street, is set to tidied up under proposals for the town centre:

Rubbish on pavements in the Poplar Estate area was cleaned up by the group during Thursday's visit and will be closely monitored:

This damaged information board along Sparks Way is to be repaired and brought back into use:

Fire-damaged waste bins on the Morland Estate will be replaced with new ones under the proposed list of changes:

Discarded shopping trolleys and other rubbish surrounding Highbridge's Morland lake will also be tidied up:

Damaged fences around the recreation ground at Southwell Park will be replaced with new ones during the planned improvements:

Shelters besides Highbridge's railway line were visited by the group on Thursday and have been pin-pointed for possible removal: