North Somerset Council is being urged to urgently evaluate options for a park and ride scheme for Weston-super-Mare following another bumper Bank Holiday weekend of visitors – and traffic queues.

North Somerset Councillor Mike Bell (Liberal Democrat, Weston-super-Mare Central Ward) says that the traffic jams over the Bank Holiday weekend showed “yet again that a fresh approach to traffic management is needed” in the resort.

The council has long had an aspiration to set up a park and ride in Weston and a site is safeguarded in the Weston Villages Supplementary Planning Document for a possible facility. However, in the past a business case for the construction and operation of a park and ride has failed to establish a commercially viable scheme.

However, Councillor Bell says much has changed since this was last looked at in detail, in 2009, and there is an urgent case for a park and ride to be looked at again.

He said: “Much has changed since 2009. On-street parking charges and civil parking enforcement have radically altered the charging and enforcement regime in the town centre, potentially impacting on the demand for a park and ride for visitors. There have also been many more homes built in the town and with more planned for Weston town centre, again likely to affect parking supply and demand.

“The busy Bank Holiday weekend showed yet again that a fresh approach to traffic management is needed. This is not an issue that can be kicked down the road into the 2020s and 2030. The council should accelerate consideration of a park and ride – and other transport options – so that we can keep Weston moving.”

Councillor Bell has written to the council’s Director of Development and Environment, David Carter, to raise the issue.