BRIDGWATER'S roads are in a “shocking” state town councillors were told. In a report to the council by the Bridgwater Local Transport Forum, Cllr Moira Brown said a meeting held on September 16, heard a number of grievances about the town’s roads from the perspective of buses.

She said that Mark Pedlar of Webberbus who addressed the meeting thought the town’s roads were poor. Mr Pedlar manages a bus company that runs services in the area but was surprised that a large infrastructure project such as Hinkley had not included a bypass for the town.

Cllr Brown said the meeting was well attended but nobody from Somerset County Council came to the meeting and the town needed “joined up thinking” when it came to transport.

Mr Pedlar listed several issues in the town that included "appalling" road infrastructure and traffic congestion which caused delays to the bus services. The meeting also heard concerns about the lack of a bus service between the railway station and the town centre and suburbs. One reason for this was partly due to the lack of coordinating timetables for the trains and buses the meeting heard.

The Webberbus boss said that the town's bus shelters and waiting facilities were not all up to scratch which he described as the bus users' "front door." A shortage of drivers had been an issue but they had overcome this by advertising in the North of England and also in Eastern Europe. However he said with the increase in population due to the Hinkley factor more buses and more bus drivers would be required.