NOW, I know the Firepool debate is becoming stale – how can any debate that has dragged on uneventfully for 12 years not become stale? – but I thought it was time for another view, and since there hasn’t been a new plan for a week or so I have taken the trouble to submit my own.

All around the region we see new generation, new projects and new life, while it appears that Taunton just limps on as more of a spectator than a player.

Firepool is the archetypal example of procrastination, indecision and missed opportunities.


READ MORE: Calls to rethink plans for Firepool in Taunton


I don’t know who is at fault for this because I get lost in the quagmire of fragmented and multiple layered bodies of indecisive decision makers sheltering under group collectives.

Somerset County Gazette:
CREATIVE: Mr Hartland's plan for Firepool

Countless councils, bodies and interested groups all with a view and all with an agenda.

I have a radical suggestion  - let’s just do something!

Let's clear up the 12-year mess where the town's market once was (before like most things it was moved to Bridgwater) and let's build something. Anything.

This is a challenge to those in Taunton who we have empowered to make decisions – go on, make one, you never know it may feel good!

KEITH HARTLAND
Taunton