Background & Economy

Pictures Courtesy of Sedgemoor District Council

Bridgwater is a thriving industrial and commercial centre with excellent links to major cities via the nearby M5 at Junctions 23 and 24 and onto the M4 and M6. As far back as the 15th Century Bridgwater was a thriving port with the cloth trade as the mainstay of the town’s prosperity, exporting woollen cloths from various parts of Somerset.

At the beginning of the 18th century, the cloth trade enjoyed a further boom before falling victim to the industrial revolution, which moved the centre of commercial and industrial activity northward towards the sources of cheap power. As Bristol grew in importance the port and town of Bridgwater declined and into a long period of stagnation.

The commercial manufacture of roofing tiles and bricks and improvements to communications helped the town grow in the 19th century. The railway station was located to the east of the town and encouraged the growth away from the river.

During the 20th century the local brick and tile industry declined. The town welcomed new industries such as Cellophane and now has a much wider industrial and commercial base. Since 1974 Bridgwater has been the administrative centre of the District of Sedgemoor.

In the 21st Century Bridgwater is growing fast and has an increasing presence of knowledge based industries and jobs in sectors for potential growth. Manufacturing is still an important part of the economy with notable names such as Gerber Food and Drink and Innovia being major employers.

A recent development has been Express Park, a fully landscaped, 105-acre business park situated close to Junction 23 of the M5, providing office space and industrial property as well as a conference centre. Bridgwater is also home to Bridgwater College, which annually caters for some 19000+ full and part-time students and has a reputation both regionally and nationally as a very successful provider of education, training and leisure courses. Local companies use the College’s Business Centre as a training provider.

The baseline analysis of the employment situation and economy in Bridgwater identified:

• Fast employment growth of 23% between 1998 and 2002
• liance on manufacturing
• Loss of 14% employee jobs in manufacturing between 1998 and 2002
• Good levels of employment in sectors forecast to increase
• One of the top five major employers is in declining sector representing 800 jobs
• A good proportion of employment is in sectors forecast to increase
• High levels of very low literacy and numeracy
• Key Stage 2 and GCSE performance is poor
• Poorly qualified workforce
• Low wage levels