TAUNTON has received the “gift” of Garden Town status but with no clear idea of what this all means. 

It is actually up to us to make it happen the way we want.

We can look at London which has just launched itself as the National Parks City taking its values from our national parks. These are about conserving culture, heritage and nature, helping employment and the economy which involves all of us.

We people are part of the ecology and it is up to us not “them” to make it happen!

Let us start from the basic function of a town.

Towns exist for people to get together and do business in products and services.

Is Taunton set up for this?

Interestingly, when the Pax Romana broke down and with it trading activity c. AD 400, town life quickly collapsed and we reverted to subsistence level farming and the “Dark Ages”.

For people to do business they need to be able to get together.

Our transport system needs a plan to separate cars, cyclists and pedestrians and our parking policy needs revision to attract shoppers.

We also need the right range of buildings and accommodation.

Town life is the product of a living community of people.

How many homes are required in the centre particularly for those who service the shops, services and all those retirement flats?

Somerset County Gazette:

According to a Sunday Times checklist a good town needs: quality, quirkiness/distinctiveness (not standard issue boxes), year round appeal, be prosperous but community minded (a town council could lead on this), an artisan quarter and an “arty” vibe (including cinema), and independent rather than chain shops.

We have to recognize the shopping footprint of Taunton is shrinking fast and work with it and the opportunities it brings.

It also means respect for and enhancement of the existing character of Taunton and its streetscape i.e. retaining the St James Pool façade.

The green element involves the river, green corridors into, the land around Taunton and the planting of appropriate and imaginative plants and trees – there is plenty of scope here provided we take out those most inappropriate plane trees and work with the property owners and the many groups that now exist. 

READ MORE: Garden town plans blossoming - but what does it mean for Taunton?

All these people deserve the chance to take ownership and do something.

This is also a chance to get really serious about sustainability; guerrilla gardening, solar power, water conservation etc.

A new council is being created with the need for new councillors with new ideas and expertise.

Now we have the chance to pull together the existing mish-mash of often conflicting strategies (Taunton Transition Town voted to put 1,600 houses on good agricultural land – tomorrow’s food supply!). 

Opportunity beckons!

D BRADLEY
Kingston St Mary