Almost half a million pounds to be spent undoing 'yellow brick road' along Clevedon seafront

North Somerset Council will spend almost half a million pounds to undo most of the “yellow brick road” scheme along Clevedon seafront.

The redesign of the seafront sparked criticism from residents in the town when parking was removed and replaced with a cycle lane, wiggly lines and a road surface compared to the yellow brick road in the Wizard of Oz.

Since then, a review into the controversial scheme has taken place and the council has voted to approve spending £425k to reverse most unpopular aspects of the scheme.

Under the plans much of the sea-facing parking on The Beach will be restored, the wavy lines, two-way cycle lane, and most of the yellow buff will be removed.

The one-way system and 20mph speed limit will remain, and there will be a single contraflow cycle lane installed instead.

The move has been welcomed by people in the town affected by the scheme.

Cathy Hawkins, a founding member of the “Save Our Seafront” campaign, said: “It just shows that if you fight to change something, it can be changed.”

But she urged councillors to think again about installing a contraflow cycle lane. She warned: “Having to look both ways both for cars and for cyclists coming down the hill quite fast is an accident waiting to happen.”

Work on the seafront could start in the autumn, in order to avoid disrupting the seaside town in the summer, and it could be completed by the end of the year.

Credit: Local democracy reporting service / John Wimperis