MOVES to alter the place where carts for Burnham’s carnival are lined up before the procession have sparked protests from residents.

A public meeting has now been arranged to try to thrash out a solution on where the 45 carnival carts can congregate after the Bridgwater Carnival on November 1 ready for the Burnham event on November 3.

Traditionally they have been lined up along Queen’s Drive and Frank Foley Parkway but they have been told by police that this can’t happen any more because they cannot block two major routes at once.

Instead the carnival committee wants to use two areas for carnival carts to park including Love Lane from Tesco roundabout to where Stoddens Lane narrows and Frank Foley Parkway from Tesco roundabout to the Wallace Wells Road roundabout.

Phil New, chairman of the committee, said: “Some of the residents have objected as we have asked them to keep the area clear so we can get the carts round. “To ensure they face the right way we plan to bring them in using Hawley Way and Ramsey Way which will likely cause inconvenience on Saturday night.

“However it won’t be 45 carts arriving at all hours in the morning.

“It will be just to manoeuvre them from about 8.30pm on the Saturday night.

I would think there would only be about 12 to 15 carts passing though they will not all be going through.”

However residents have reacted with anger to the proposals saying they will be “blocked in” by the carts. Resident Darren Lloyd contacted the Weekly News saying he was unhappy with the plans.

He added: “I don't object in principle to parking the carts in the north section of Love Lane this year as planned, provided that residents can still get out of the estate freely.

However, the plan to turn these vehicles around by driving them down Hawley Way and Ramsey Way to make them face in the right direction is unworkable.

“It is this part of your plan that will effectively trap residents on the estate for at least that evening and also make it impossible for emergency services to access the estate if needed as you will be blocking the only way in or out of the estate.”

The public meeting was taking place yesterday (Wednesday) at the Ritz Cinema in the town at 7.30pm.