THE cost of building less than a mile of a controversial A39 cycle lane in West Somerset could instead have fixed 45,000 potholes, Exmoor farmer and campaigner James Wright said this week.

Mr Wright said Somerset Council spent £2.7 million on the 1,460-yard long cycle route only to see it used by fewer than 12 cyclists and walkers an hour.

He said a Freedom of Information request to the council revealed that council taxpayers were paying the equivalent of more than £1 for each person who used it.

Mr Wright, who is chairman of the Conservative South West Rural Forum, said: “If that level of usage were maintained consistently every week for the next 20 years, the cost per journey would still be £1.08.

“That figure includes both cyclists and walkers, without accounting for any maintenance costs.

“Somerset Council keeps on saying it is nearly bankrupt and needs to increase council tax, cut services, and introduce 24/7 car parking charges.

“Yet, they always seem to find money for vanity projects like this.”

Mr Wright said the responses to his questions showed the council had not completed a formal impact assessment for the cycle path project, a second, shorter, phase of which was started last month.

Only one usage survey had been undertaken since the first section opened in July, 2023, and the final cost was still not known.

Usage data collected for the route from Bircham Road, Minehead, to Dunster Steep, showed even during peak periods, only 2,418 pedestrian and cycle journeys were recorded each week.

Mr Wright said connecting the West Somerset Railway from Bishops Lydeard to the mainline in Taunton would cost £5 million, compared with the £2.7 million spent on the short section of little-used cycleway.

He said: “We need real leadership, not virtue signalling.”