Bank Holiday traffic ground to a halt in Berrow on Monday morning (August 25th) when 200 protesters staged a march to call on the County Council to complete a much-needed footpath along Coast Road.
Residents have been campaigning for safety improvements along the busy road for many years and Monday’s protest was timed to cause as much disruption as possible, thereby forcing Somerset County Council to take notice.
The protest walk was held along a stretch of road near to Berrow Church and led to long queues of traffic building up over five miles back to Burnham-On-Sea.
Jenny Bentley, Chairwoman of Berrow Parish Council, told Burnham-On-Sea.com at Monday’s protest that she was “delighted” with the turnout.
She said: “This will send out a strong message to the county council that they must honour their broken promise of getting this footpath finished.”
County Councillor Alan Ham added: “This protest will help me tremendously at County Hall as I continually push for this piece of pavement to be completed. We demand that the county council completes it forthwith.”
A child was injured in an accident along the busy stretch of road where it joins manor Way in March this year (marked on the map above).
Cllr Dennis Davey, Chairman of Sedgemoor District Council, was among those protesting for the footpath to be completed
Long tailbacks of traffic developed during the walk along Coast Road
Local residents are also angry about the state of the road and, here, Dennis Chick points to one spot where even painted lettering on the road has been obscured by crumbling tarmac. “It’s a disgrace that this road is being totally ignored by the county council,” said Dennis.
Placards and posters explained the feelings of the protest group
Police helped to keep the disruption to traffic controlled
RELATED LINKS:
Burnham MP backs campaign for Coast Road safety improvements
