A PLANNED £1.5 million upgrade of a key West Somerset cycle route has been scrapped due to ‘logistical challenges’.

Somerset Council intended to use a Government grant given two-and-a-half years ago to improve an existing, narrow cycle path along the A39 between Dunster and Carhampton.

But now it has said the project is too difficult to implement and will not be taken forward and the funding will be re-allocated to other active travel projects across Somerset.

Currently, the A39 from Williton to Minehead has limited cycle facilities, with riders having to either brave narrow paths, take their chances on the main road, or take a long diversion using the Steam Coast Trail.

The existing cycleway along the A39 runs from Winsors Lane at the western edge of Carhampton to the crossroads with the A396 at Dunster Steep with cyclists sharing limited space with pedestrians and coping with overgrown vegetation.

The improved path was intended to link up with two previously completed sections between the Ellicombe roundabout, Minehead, and Marsh Lane, Dunster, and a short stretch from Marsh Lane to Dunster Steep.

The council is still due to start work in the New Year on a major traffic lights upgrade at the Dunster Steep/A39 junction which will also improve pedestrian crossings between the two sides of the village.

It said the scheme would include ‘some widening and improvements of the existing paths and crossing in Dunster’.

A spokesperson said: “The £1.5 million funding allocation, with the agreement of Active Travel England, was reallocated to a number of other schemes due to the logistical challenges of the original proposal and the need to utilise funding within the time-frame.

“A number of other schemes have benefited in the county.

“The team is continuing to look at provision between Dunster and Carhampton and how this can be improved.”