Nine months of works at Kew Roundabout and Foul Lane start on 17 August. What is changing, what to expect on Scarisbrick New Road, and how to check live closures.

The biggest piece of road building Southport has seen in years starts this month. Sefton Council has confirmed that Phase 2 of the Southport Eastern Access scheme is due to begin on Monday 17 August 2026, with the main construction following in September and running for about nine months. It covers Kew Roundabout, Foul Lane, Town Lane and the Scarisbrick New Road approach into town, which between them carry most of the traffic coming into Southport from the east.

Here is what is happening, what it will feel like from behind the wheel, and where to check what is closed today.

Southport Eastern Access Phase 2: the works starting this month

The council’s own August 2026 update says the first works are early works in Meols Park alongside Scarisbrick New Road, plus clearing bushes and vegetation on Foul Lane and at Kew Roundabout. The main work is due to start in September and is expected to take approximately nine months (Sefton Council).

The Meols Park work is a stone layer laid along the park boundary as the foundation for a widened footpath and a segregated cycle path. Because of poor ground conditions the council is deliberately leaving that stone to settle for a few months before the tarmac goes on near the end of the scheme, so expect that stretch to look unfinished for most of the job. That is the plan, not a delay.

Timeline of Southport's two major highway schemes Timeline running from 2025 to 2027. Les Transformations de Southport phase one, covering Market Street, King Street and Eastbank Street, ran from January 2025 and completed at the end of 2025. Southport Eastern Access phase two begins with early works on 17 August 2026, main construction from September 2026, running approximately nine months. The Liverpool City Region funding condition requires all funds to be committed by March 2027. Two schemes, one after the other: town centre first, eastern approach next Dates as published by Sefton Council. The nine-month duration is the council's own estimate, not a fixed completion date. Jan 2025 Jan 2026 Jan 2027 Jan 2028 Les Transformations phase 1: Market St, King St, Eastbank St Completed end of 2025 Eastern Access phase 2: about 9 months Kew Rbt, Foul Lane 17 Aug 2026: early works Mar 2027: funding must be committed Chart by Southport Today. Sources: Sefton Council scheme pages for Les Transformations de Southport and Southport Eastern Access.
The town centre scheme finished before the eastern approach started, so Southport is not being dug up at both ends at once.

What is actually changing

Sefton has published the design, and it is a substantial rebuild rather than resurfacing (Sefton Council highway proposals):

  • Kew Roundabout gets traffic lights and signalised crossings on every arm, plus a segregated footpath and cycle path. It stops being a give-way roundabout.
  • Scarisbrick New Road, along the park side, gets a widened footway and a new cycle path running up to Kew Roundabout, and the existing crossings are upgraded to a pelican crossing.
  • Foul Lane is opened up to through traffic. At present the road is blocked; the block comes out, the carriageway is widened, and you will be able to turn in from Crowland Street and drive straight through.
  • Past the mini roundabout towards B&Q, a segregated queuing lane is added.

The council says traffic will be kept moving around the roundabout throughout, with cones and lane closures rather than full closures, and that access for residents and businesses will be maintained. It also warns plainly that journey times will be longer while the work is on.

What it means for you. If you come into Southport from Ormskirk, Scarisbrick or the retail parks, this is your route and you should add time from mid-August onwards. If you are heading for the town centre from the east and the queues build, the coast road through Birkdale is the alternative, though it is slower in normal conditions. Rush hour on event weekends will be the worst of it, and there are two of those in the next month.

What it costs and who is paying

The Southport Eastern Access scheme is budgeted at £19.97 million, funded through the Liverpool City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement. The funding carries a condition: all of it must be committed by March 2027 (Sefton Council). That deadline is the reason the timetable is what it is.

Phase 1 of the same scheme, at the Sussex Road and Bispham Road junctions, is already complete.

The town centre scheme that has already finished

If you have not driven through the middle of Southport since 2024, the layout has changed. Les Transformations de Southport phase 1 was completed at the end of 2025, and since January 2025 it has pedestrianised Market Street and made the adjoining King Street one way, alongside wider footways, new paving and kerbing, new crossings, tree planting and rain gardens on Eastbank Street (Sefton Council).

That phase was allocated £6.2 million from the Liverpool City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement and the Levelling Up Fund Town Deal (Sefton Council).

Phase 2 covers the Promenade. The council has the page up but has not yet published the detail or a start date, so there is nothing firm to plan around yet. We will update this page when there is.

The routes that matter, and the routine work on them

Two roads carry most of Southport’s traffic and both are worth knowing by number.

  • The A565 is the coast road. It runs down Lord Street and out through Birkdale as Waterloo Road and Lulworth Road, then on through Ainsdale, Formby and Crosby towards Liverpool. Almost every trip along the Sefton coast uses part of it.
  • The A570 comes in from the east as Scarisbrick New Road, past Kew Roundabout and the retail parks, and is the main inland approach. It is the road the Eastern Access works sit on.

Sefton publishes a rolling highway maintenance programme listing which carriageways are due resurfacing, and several A565 stretches through Birkdale, Ainsdale and Formby appear in the 2025 to 2027 list, including A565 Waterloo Road and A565 Lulworth Road in Birkdale (Sefton Council maintenance programme). Individual resurfacing jobs are short, usually a few nights or a week, and are notified locally rather than announced in advance across the borough.

How to check what is closed today

Roadworks pages go stale within days. These two do not, because they are fed live by the people digging the holes:

  • Sefton’s street works map shows works booked on the borough’s own roads, including utility company digs.
  • one.network for Sefton shows the same data with diversions and planned closures, and covers neighbouring authorities so you can see the West Lancashire side of a journey too.

If you are travelling on a big weekend, check the trains instead. The Merseyrail line into Southport runs four times an hour and is not affected by any of this, and there is a £2 return fare from anywhere on the network for the Flower Show and Air Show.

Frequently asked questions

When do the Kew Roundabout roadworks start?

Monday 17 August 2026 for early works in Meols Park and vegetation clearing at Foul Lane and Kew Roundabout. The main construction starts in September 2026 and is expected to take about nine months.

Will Kew Roundabout be closed?

No. Sefton says traffic will be kept moving around the roundabout using cones and lane closures, and that access for residents and businesses will be maintained. Expect delays rather than closures.

What is changing at Kew Roundabout?

It is being signalised. Traffic lights and signal-controlled crossings go in on every arm, with a segregated footpath and cycle path, and Foul Lane is opened to through traffic from Crowland Street.

Is Market Street in Southport still open to cars?

No. Market Street was pedestrianised as part of Les Transformations de Southport phase 1, and King Street beside it is now one way. That work completed at the end of 2025.

Where can I see live Southport roadworks?

On Sefton’s street works map or one.network. Both are updated by the organisations carrying out the work.

Sources

Roadworks dates move. Confirm on the council’s street works map before you plan a journey around them.