BRIDGWATER Town Council is bringing forums back to the fore of local democracy.

Following the local elections the town council has rejigged its forums slightly and is looking for increasing involvement from the public.

Town council leader Cllr Brian Smedley said: "These are forums for the people of the town, their elected councillors, and experts, professionals and service deliverers to meet together in one place and concentrate on key issues and then come up with a way forward.

"They are so much more than the usual ‘behind closed doors’ type council meetings."

The first of these meetings for the 2019/20 year will be the Town Development Forum set to take place on Tuesday, June 4 at the Town Hall.

Chaired by Cllr Smedley the subject of this month's meeting will be the Somerset County Council and Sedgemoor District Council policy regarding felling trees, with the aim being to develop a town council policy in the light of information provided at the forum.

The following forum will be the Transport Forum, chaired by Cllr Glen Burrows, which will take place on Tuesday, June 11 at 4pm again in the Town Hall.

This forum looks at key aims and policies and then by topic for rail, road, waterways, pedestrian walkways and cycle paths.

A new forum being introduced will be the Climate Change Forum chaired by Cllr Li Gibson.

It will reflect the town council's support for tackling the Climate Change emergency, looking at how to introduce relevant measures within the town council and looking at where work can be carried out with other authorities and the wider community.