Berrow residents who have been campaigning for safety improvements along a busy stretch of road in the village will hold a special ‘community walk’ on Bank Holiday Monday (August 25th) to draw attention to long-running concerns about safety.
Residents will meet on Monday at 11am in the car park at St. Mary’s Church, the location of a visit by MP David Heathcoat-Amory last year, as pictured here, when he gave his support to the campaign to introduce pavemnts along Coast Road.
Lynn Smith, clerk to Berrow Parish Council, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “Local people have to walk this dangerous section of Coast Road and holidaymakers try to walk it but turn back when they realise that there is no footway and not even a verge to use as a refuge. It is only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured or killed.”
“The volume of traffic along the Coast Road increases each year with the expansion of the many caravan parks in Berrow and Brean. This increase in the traffic conflicts with the many people trying to walk or cycle along the road.”
The walk comes amid a fresh push by residents to force Somerset County Council to introduce safety changes along the road – a fight that has been ongoing for many years.
“In 2001, Berrow residents were delighted to learn that Somerset County Council had ranked the Coast Road footway scheme as one of the highest schemes within the Local Transport Plan 2001 – 2006 and had allocated funding for the installation of the footway during the financial year 2001/2002. The first stage of the footway, the northern section, between Unity Farm and Hurn Lane was completed during that financial year, much to the delight of the many residents and visitors to Berrow,” Lynn Smith, clerk to Berrow Parish Council, told Burnham-On-Sea.com.
“Unfortunately, though, due to problems encountered with land negotiations with the Burnham and Berrow Golf Club, the installation of the southern section between Hurn Lane and St. Mary’s Church was delayed.”
“Land negotiations continued for many months until, in April 2003, the Golf Club agreed, in principle, subject to several conditions being given due consideration, to dedicate to Somerset County Council the land required for highway purposes.”
“One of the conditions was the installation of a chain-link fence to be erected along the length of the southern section of the footway. Unfortunately, this also caused delays, as Sedgemoor District Council indicated that planning permission for the fence would be required and that this would be unlikely to be supported.”
“However, planning permission for the fence was granted by Somerset County Council in December 2005, well within the lifespan of LTP1 and therefore the installation of the footway was eagerly awaited.”
“All of Berrow’s residents and visitors were therefore horrified to hear in June 2006 that the Coast Road footway scheme was not going to be completed and that monies allocated to the scheme had been vired elsewhere.”
“They were even more concerned to hear that this scheme was unlikely to be included within Local Transport Plan 2 from 2006 – 2011, and that there was a distinct possibility that the footway would not be completed before 2012 and maybe not at all.”
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).
RELATED LINKS:
Burnham MP backs campaign for Coast Road safety improvements
Online video of statements given by Cllr Ham and Burnham’s MP
