Published:
August 25, 2008
Berrow Coast Road protest causes traffic chaos in Burnham area
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
