Fresh calls for controversial road changes on Clevedon seafront to be removed

Freshly-elected councillors are calling on controversial changes to Clevedon seafront to be removed.

A wiggly white line and a cycle lane were added to the Victorian seafront road The Beach in January.

The scheme was widely criticised by locals and even debated in Parliament. It was called “one of the most bizarre new road schemes we’ve ever seen” by the RAC.

The wiggly line was later removed only to be replaced with a new buff which locals say looks like a “yellow brick road”.

Conservatives Michael Pryke and Luke Smith both won seats in Clevedon in this month's elections to North Somerset Council after campaigning against the work done to the seafront.

Now they are bringing a motion before North Somerset Council’s annual meeting on Tuesday 23 May calling for the scheme to be scrapped and Clevedon seafront to be restored to its former state, except for remaining one-way.

The motion calls on the council to note “the highways and parking changes made to Clevedon seafront have received great condemnation from local residents and businesses and continue to be extremely unpopular”.

It states: “The Clevedon seafront highways and parking design should therefore be returned to its former design with the exception of retaining the one-way system, including the re-alignment of parking to face the sea, removal of textured yellow surface (to be replaced with tarmac), and the removal of bike humps and installation of appropriate signage and planters.”

A review of the seafront is already planned.

Liberal Democrat Council leader Mike Bell said: “It is really important that if you get things wrong you hold your hands up and accept that and do things differently as a result.

“As a minimum, I would expect us to come from this review with different processes and procedures. If we need to do things differently on the ground in a practical sense in Clevedon, then we will do that.”

Conservatives are the opposition on North Somerset Council. Despite being the largest party on the council with 13 councillors, they do not control the 26 needed for a majority and the council will instead be run by a “partnership administration” of Liberal Democrats, Labour, Greens, Independents and Portishead Independents.

The administration will be officially ratified at the council meeting tonight.

Credit: John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporting Service