Call to give cars the boot

SUNDAYS have turned into a living hell for residents in Cheddar who are being caught up in mile-long queues of traffic in the village.Motorists visiting Cheddar Garden Centre and the weekly car boot sale at Winchester Farm are causing residents to stay in on Sunday mornings to avoid the congestion on the A371.More than 5,000 people attend the car boot sale every week, jamming roads to get to the site.Parish councillor Gillian Davies said the whole village is grinding to a halt because of the traffic.She said: "People aren't able to leave the village because irresponsible planners have granted permission for this garden centre and allowed this car boot sale without adapting the roads."Sometimes there's an event on in the village as well and the roads are just jammed."The problem is the district council deals with planning and the county council deals with roads, so there's a confusion over who is supposed to sort this out."Car boot sale organiser Ashley Hann said Sedgemoor District Council should build a bypass for the village.He said: "The district council has talked about a bypass for the village and not done anything for years."There's probably around 1,500 cars every week at the car boot, but Cheddar is a tourist area and needs a bypass to deal with the amount of traffic that goes through the village."The village always has problems with the traffic and it's not just on a Sunday."District councillor Peter Downing said a bypass was not the solution to the problem.He said: "There are higher priorities on road infrastructures in the district than a bypass for Cheddar."The roads are a nightmare on a Sunday, but it would be nice if every village had a bypass.