A PLAN to enhance Bridgwater Library and to ‘reclaim Blake Gardens’ for the community have been revealed.

Representatives from Somerset Libraries, Somerset County Council and Sedgemoor District Council outlined potential plans for an external funding bid for a scheme to the Bridgwater Town Development Forum at a meeting last week (June 19).

Bridgwater Town Council leader, Brian Smedley, said: “These plans aim to reclaim Blake Gardens, making it a more attractive area for people to visit and make it a real hub for the community.”

Somerset Libraries and Sedgemoor District Council have been working with Bridgwater Town Council to develop the project which will be submitted as a joint bid to the Community Impact Mitigation funding from Hinkley C.

Bridgwater Mercury:

Early ideas presented included creating a gallery and meeting area, a new cafe backing onto Blake Gardens, an ‘innovation suite’, having a new interactive ‘digital table’ and creating an area aimed at young people and teenagers potentially including virtual reality headsets and social gaming areas.

Officers were keen to emphasise that the current plans were subject to a funding bid and if successful, the delivery of the project should be complete by the end of 2019. 

Plans for the library and Blake Gardens are aimed at reducing social isolation and providing activities, events and facilities for families and the wider community. 

The library will also be developed as a complimentary place for businesses and start-up businesses, linking with education, business organisations and local projects to help increase the economic prosperity for the town. 

Suggestions for Blake Gardens included adding more lighting, installing new, more attractive fencing, reinstating the rose gardens and raising some of the beds and improving cycling facilities. 

At the meeting, resident Mike Slade welcomed the plans, but was keen to make sure the new facilities would be open in the evenings and mornings so that people who work between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday, would be able to make the most of them.

From Monday, July 2, information will be on display in the library for members of the public to review and comment on the proposals.