NORTH Somerset Council will spend almost half a million pounds to undo most of the much-derided “yellow brick road” scheme along the Clevedon seafront.

There was outcry in the town after sea-view parking was removed from the town ’s Victorian seafront and replaced with a cycle lane, “bizarre” wiggly lines, and a buff road surface compared to the “yellow brick road” from the Wizard of Oz.

After the 2023 local elections, the new council leader Mike Bell (Weston-super-Mare Central, Liberal Democrats) committed to a full review of the controversial scheme.

Now, the council executive has unanimously approved spending £425k to reverse many of the most unpopular aspects of the scheme in a move welcomed by locals.

The council’s executive member for highways and transport, Hannah Young (Clevedon South, Labour) told the meeting of the council executive on March 27: “The most difficult process in many ways has been looking at how we can move forward with the changes given the very very difficult financial position the council finds itself in, alongside councils across the country.”

Under the plans — which she stressed were “not the absolutely finalised version” — much of the sea-facing parking on The Beach will be restored under the plan, the wavy lines, two-way cycle lane, and most of the yellow buff will be removed.

The one-way system and 20mph speed limit will remain, and there will be a single contraflow cycle lane installed instead.

The move has been welcomed by people in the town affected by the scheme.

Cathy Hawkins, a founding member of the “save our seafront” campaign, said: “It just shows that if you fight to change something, it can be changed.”

But she urged councillors to think again about installing a contraflow cycle lane.

She warned: “Having to look both ways both for cars and for cyclists coming down the hill quite fast is an accident waiting to happen.”

Malcolm Simmonds, who has run Beach Pottery on the road for almost 40 years, thanked Ms Young for meeting with locals and working on the changes.

He said the scheme has caused “chaos,” leading to people speeding on the road and people blocking the loading bays “essential” for his business.

Mr Bell said: “This partnership administration believes in trying to do things with the community, not to the community.

“When we get things wrong we will hold our hands up and recognise that and try and put it right.”

Michael Pryke (Clevedon Walton, Conservative) said he had some reservations about what was proposed but councillors needed to compromise.

He said: “Clevedon needs a good news story and to finally be able to draw a line under this entire matter and this is what this report does today.”

But he said he had concerns over how the council was footing the bill of the project.

He said: “Clevedon’s slipway, which is where this money was going to go, is now facing a lack of funding when it needs some serious TLC.”

£50k which was to be spent on repairing the slipway will now instead be spent on the changes to the beach.

Other sources of funding for the works include another unallocated £21k from the Great Lakes project, along with section 106 money from developers and local transport plan funding. The council is also taking £153k out of its capital and revenue reserves.

Work on the seafront could start in the autumn, in order to avoid disrupting the seaside town in the summer, and it could be completed by the end of the year.