MORE than 20 years in the planning - a new cycle route between Brean and Weston-super-Mare has been opened at a special ceremony.

The Brean Down Way is an eight-mile long, traffic-free cycle route which provides cyclists and walkers with a route over the River Axe.

The new path was officially opened by Annie Maw, the Lord Lieutenant of Somerset at an ribbon cutting on July 7 and was attended by James Heappey, MP for Burnham-on-Sea, Elfan Ap Rees from North Somerset Council and Mike Cresswell, chairman of Sedgemoor District Council.

John Grimshaw, from Greenways & Cycle Routes, spoke at the opening.

“It is exactly 40 years to the day since a group of us met in the Nova Scotia pub in Bristol to set up a campaigning group to bring about good cycling facilities in our area,” he said.

“One of our first efforts was to build the Riverside Path to Pill so it gives us great pleasure that 40 years on this anniversary path, the Brean Down Way is also in North Somerset.

“It is great to see so many people here ready to enjoy the path, it has been something the community has wanted for a number of years.

“Without every single person who gave up their time and got involved the Brean Down Way would not have happened.

“A huge thank you to all the volunteers and everyone who has made this project a reality.”

The project was spearheaded by Greenways and Cycle Routes and was supported by a number of organisations including North Somerset Council, the Environment Agency, Somerset County Council, Brean Parish Council and Sedgemoor District Council.

Mr Heappey said: “It’s fantastic to see the Brean Down Way now open to the public as this is a fantastic addition to our local tourism industry.

“I’ve no doubt it will prove really popular with visitors and locals alike.”

The path cost more than £500,000 to build and Mr Grimshaw says he hopes he can extend the path to Clevedon in the future.

Cllr Cresswell said the path was a sound investment.

“We were delighted to be able to play our part in making sure this worthwhile scheme reached fruition and to support the amazing hard work of the project team,” he said. “We were pleased to provide financial support in the form of a grant for the work camp as well as a range of advice from legal and planning to funding opportunities and Greenways & Cycleroutes certainly made good use of our assistance.”