WEST Somerset District Council is pressing for action over Minehead's controversial Friday Street junction

At its meeting on Wednesday evening, members backed Minehead North member Cllr Keith Parkes' motion calling for WS Atkins to explain why work has not started on restoring the junction to its original layout and to clarify the funding situation.

County council officials have said that this year's funding for such work has already be allocated. The money is being spent on crossing facilities, pedestrian signs from car parks to the town centre and the first phase of the experimental high season car park at Dunster.

The junction was transformed last year to give priority to Friday Street and Park Street as part of a £200,000 town enhancement scheme.

But the alterations have not gone down well with disgruntled residents and motorists who have taken their complaints to both the district and county council. The junction has been also branded dangerous and confusing for some motorists to negotiate.

Highway officials pledged to investigate returning the junction to its original layout after a unanimous vote at a public meeting in January called for the junction to be ripped up.

But now the county council is refusing to do that until it has undertaken a further study of traffic management in Minehead.

It says a study is needed because reinstating the original layout or putting a new mini-roundabout could cause potential road safety implications and have a knock-on effect on other junctions in the town.

Cllr Parkes said: "It was an experiment in road prioritisation that didn't work and proved very unpopular with residents and confusing for visitors.

"Nobody wants it, it doesn't work and above all we didn't agree or ask for it".