On Monday night, the February meeting of Midsomer Norton Town Council took place in the Beauchamp Room at the Town Hall. Items up for discussion included the budget, the regeneration of Midsomer Norton and the consultation on changes to local bus services.Councillors heard that the town’s War Memorial is set to become a Grade II Listed monument. It is believed to be of significant historic interest, as the memorial is a copy of the Whitehall Cenotaph, one of only a small number in the country. The Council still intend to apply significant maintenence work to the memorial before it becomes officially listed.

A new Town Clerk has been appointed to replace current clerk, Clive Stillwell, who has handed in his resignation. Although the identity of the candidate has not yet been revealed, they are set to start on Monday, 12th March.

In January, Bath and North East Somerset Council announced that they were seeking comments by Parish Councils and the public on B&NES bus services, as budget cuts have forced them to reassess their spending. With the opportunity to comment on the issue, Cllr Gordon Mackay was vocal about the importance of the 172 and 179 bus services, which run through Midsomer Norton.

He spoke with passion about the need for public transport in the town, because of both the costs of commuting to Bath and Bristol by taxi, and because of the environmental effects that cutting the service would have, namely more Co2 emissions from a larger number of cars on the road.

One proposed idea for B&NES to raise money for the funding was to introduce parking charges in Bath city centre after 8 p.m., as currently the main car parks in the city are free from this time.