North Somerset Council will begin work to remove the “wiggly lines” from Clevedon’s seafront next week — and the road could be back to almost normal by the May half-term.
The controversial changes to The Beach were made in 2022. The council removed beloved parking spaces facing out to sea to install a two-way cycle lane, along with a much-derided “yellow brick road” on parts of the street and the “wiggly lines” painted on the road — which the RAC described as one of the “most bizarre” road schemes it had seen.
After outcry in the town and an independent review of the scheme, the council committed to spend £425k reversing most of the changes. Now the council has said that work will start in mid-February.
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But it is expected to take up to 12 weeks and will mean sections of the road will need to be temporarily closed, and the X6 and X7 buses may have to be diverted while the work is underway. The council said access will be maintained at all times for businesses and residents and notices will be placed on bus stops if the routes are diverted.
Hannah Young (Clevedon South, Labour), the council’s executive member for highways, said: “The works will begin next month with the aim of being complete within 12 weeks. The updates taking place are in line with public feedback gathered over the last two years.”
Dr Young was elected to North Somerset Council in 2023, after the changes had already been made to The Beach. She said: “We plan to reinstate the sea facing parking, replace the two-way cycle path with a single contraflow cycle path and adjust the roundabout to a traditional layout which is enabled by changing the position of the cycle lane. We will be formally publicising the works this week and will provide directly affected local businesses and residents along the seafront with more details shortly.”
The Beach will not return to exactly how it was. It will remain a one-way system but with improved road markings and signage.
The original changes to the road cost over £1m, as the scheme went massively overbudget. Now the council is spending almost half a million pounds to undo the scheme.
In order to meet the £425k price tag of the changes, the council executive voted in March to redirect £50k which had been intended for repairing the slipway — a project the council said was not at the implementation stage — and another unallocated £21k from the Great Lakes project. Other funding is coming from section 106 money from developers and local transport plan funding. The council is also taking £153k out of its capital and revenue reserves.
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