“PUT the love back into Bridgwater” . . . that was the plea to council representatives at the meeting this week.

Bridgwater residents quizzed representatives of Somerset County Council and Sedgemoor Dis-trict Council, who own the land jointly.

The meeting at Trinity Hall was called by Bridgwater Town Council after Tesco pulled out of a deal to build a superstore on the site.

James Stubbs, head of property and business development at County Hall, reassured the public that the county council would not rush into any decision over the land.

He said: “The county council has no immediate plan B. We’ve had meetings with Sedgemoor and agreed we’ll work together to do what’s best for the town.

“We’re not going to rush to sell it to anyone.”

Sedgemoor planning policy manager Nick Tait highlighted the Bridgwater Vision (Sedgemoor’s blueprint for town centre planning policy), saying much of the document will still apply for any future use of the site.

He said: “There’s an opportunity here to take away the feedback from this meeting and review some of the wording of the Vision, and see if it’s still relevant.

When the public had a chance to speak Alec Western called for the councils to hold on to the land for at least four years until all the options had been fully and publicly assessed.

Bob Cudlipp wanted to see the former Splash site developed, but not the Brewery Field.

Chris Hooper felt that whatever the land was used for it should complement the docks, and called for Bridgwater’s waterways to be better used for tourism.

There were plenty of suggestions on how the land may best be used, from open air museums to ice rinks and bowling alleys.

Questions were raised over the county’s decision to demolish the Northgate buildings despite saying it had no plans for the land – Mr Stubbs said the decision was to “open up the land”.

The public mood was summed up by Nick Gibson, who demanded that the councils speak to the public rather than just each other.

He said: “It’s about time the love was put back into Bridgwater – if you don’t want to love Bridgwater then get out because we do.”

His call was heeded by Mr Stubbs, who agreed to hold off the planned demolition of the Northgate buildings pending a review.

Closing the meeting, Bridgwater Mayor Steve Austen said: “I’m yet again overwhelmed by the passion for our town shown by speaker after speaker tonight.”