Three Highbridge councillors have written to the Chief Executive and Leader of Sedgemoor District Council urging them to renegotiate the terms of the funding agreement with the developer of the Asda store.
The call from three Liberal Democrat town councillors – John Parkes, Victoria Weavell, Fiona Hector – comes after Burnham-On-Sea.com first reported here in October that almost £400,000 of earmarked community funding for Highbridge may not be spent in the town until the year 2022.
The money – which was obtained as part of a Section 106 agreement put in place in 2012 during the expansion of the town’s Asda store – has been earmarked towards the cost of improving and enhancing Sedgemoor District Council’s public open space at Isleport Ponds. Local councillors want the cash used to regenerate Highbridge town centre instead.
Cllr John Parkes told Burnham-On-Sea.com this week: “The planning permission says that the store was designed to promote the viability and vitality of Highbridge Town centre but none of the money received has been allocated to do this. We’re asking Sedgemoor to rectify this if they can.”
Cllr Victoria Weavell added: “At the last Town Council we proposed ring fencing £20,000 from the Town Council’s regeneration budget for Highbridge. Although we didn’t succeed in this, the Town Council did agree to £12,500. We’ve already been in contact with the Chairman of Highbridge Chamber of Trade to discuss ideas on how this could be best spent. This will be a very welcome boost to Highbridge but, obviously, is on a much smaller scale than the money from Asda.”
And Cllr Fiona Hector added: “In the near future the Brue Farm development is due to start. We have also asked Sedgemoor Council to confirm that the £200,000 destined for the Highbridge Town centre as part of this scheme’s planning permission will, in fact, be spent there and not diverted elsewhere.”
Also see:
Highbridge’s King Alfred School to receive £182k of Asda funding
£400k of Highbridge community funding may not be spent until 2022
Claims of £612,000 funding ‘scandal’ in Highbridge denied by council
Highbridge town centre ‘misses out on regeneration cash’ from Asda
