A £210,000 project to partially pedestrianise Burnham-On-Sea’s High Street received a further boost on Wednesday (September 22nd) when district council bosses gave a thumbs-up to the scheme.
Sedgemoor District Council’s Executive unanimously agreed that over 158,000 of funding can be spent on creating a new pedestrian-only zone for the High Street which will be in place between Adam Street and Cross Street between 10am-4pm each day.
Under the plans Adam Street and Cross Street will both become one-way roads in alternative directions to divert traffic away from the proposed pedestrianised zone.
Alex Turco, Chairman of Burnham’s Civic Pride group, pictured above, gave a cautious welcome to Wednesday’s news.
He told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “I am pleased that SDC has approved the use of this money for Burnham. However, many details of the scheme remain to be clarified. Extensive public consultation also remains to be held to ensure the scheme will deliver real benefits for Burnham.”
The public consultation will be held in coming weeks with interested parties to gather feedback on the scheme. In October, there will be consultation on the traffic order changes and in November the design aspects of the project – such as street lighting, signs, benches and paving stones – will be discussed.
Tom Dougal, Sedgemoor’s Transport Policy Officer, told Burnham-On-Sea.com after Wednesday’s meeting: “Members of the Executive weere very supportive of the plans and hope the scheme makes a positive difference to Burnham.”
Construction work could begin in early 2011 and the whole project may be completed before next year’s Easter holiday season.
The £158,861 funding approved fot the scheme by Sedgemoor’s Executive was the ‘compensation’ awarded to the district council earlier this year by the South West Regional Development Agency to reimburse it for previous abortive work with Civic Pride. The project’s remaining funding will come from the Town Council and other backers.
