Campaigners to take to the streets in Rhos on Sea to protest against new one-way system

Richard Evans, local democracy reporter

Residents and business owners in Rhos on Sea will take to the streets on Saturday to protest against plans to introduce a one-way system on West Promenade.

The council’s £14m coastal defence scheme will include a new one-way system along Rhos on Sea promenade, which will also see seafront kiosks demolished and replaced.

Residents fear increased traffic on the Cayley Promenade – the road that runs above the embankment and parallel to the lower West Promenade – as west-bound traffic into Rhos on Sea is rerouted through residential areas.

A council report has predicted a 778 percent increase in traffic on the Cayley Promenade. Residents say lorries and buses using the Cayley Promenade will rev their engines to change gear whilst travelling uphill, causing noise and air pollution.

Residents have until March 8 to write to object. The plans will then go before Conwy County Council’s planning committee.

Resident Phillip Ash is one of the organisers of the demonstration. Phillip lives nearby and has run The Peacock Lounge restaurant in Rhos for the past three years. He fears the one-way system will be bad for business and affect residents’ quality of life.

“We’re holding a people protest against the one-way system on the Cayley Embankment, just so people know they’ve got until Tuesday 8 March to get their representation into the council,” he said.

“We have tried to get a public meeting with council officers, but they are not interested in having one with us, and they are using Covid as the reason why we can’t have public meetings, but we are at alert-level zero.

“The one-way system is going to kill the area. It’s going to send traffic into the housing estates just off it, which is going to cause way more problems. I can’t see the logic. It’s been hard for traders over the last two years in Rhos on Sea. Turning the prom into a one-way system, people are just not going to want the hassle.

“People will just drive through to Colwyn Bay. Why a one-way system? There is nothing wrong with it now. I also live in the area. It’s just going to create more traffic in a quiet little residential area. You are going to have trucks, wagons, everything just driving through all the time.

“The one-way system will stop people from coming to Rhos on Sea. There is already an issue in the height of the summer with people parking outside houses, let alone what it would be like now. “

He added: “It’s not going to be good for business, and all that traffic coming through will cause so many problems. Many of the people living there are elderly, disabled, young children, and then you’ve got massive wagons, trucks and cars passing through the streets all day, every day.”

The protestors are meeting by the tree of lights at the Cayley embankment at 10 am on Saturday morning.