£5.4 million secured for road maintenance projects across Somerset

£5.4 million has been handed to Somerset Council to help speed-up road repairs and take preventative action to stop them getting worse.

The extra cash is coming in from the Government after they recognised the unprecedented challenges facing authorities after a year of extreme weather conditions, with the news coming on the same week that flash floods dispersed a barrage of water across many parts of the county.

Here in Somerset, 4,347 safety defects (potholes, blocked gullies and other damage) were reported in January 2023 - a 50 per cent increase on the same time in last year.

In the 2022/3 period, 27,671 safety defects were picked up, which is 3,500 on the previous year.

The authority says there has been the additional challenge this week because of the flash flooding.

Councillor Mike Rigby, Somerset Council’s Lead Member for Transport and Digital said: "This extra funding will ensure the Council can not only tackle the growing maintenance backlog in highways maintenance following the challenges we’ve faced over the last nine months, but it’s going to make it possible to for us to take preventative actions and protect roads.

"We know people out there are noticing the state of the roads, we can see the number of reports we’re getting from the public have grown, so I’d ask people to please keep using our report function, bear with us, we’re operating on a priority basis.

"Over the next three months there will be comprehensive assessments made to catalogue the damage and schedule repairs, and a huge operation to get the work done so we can build that resilience in our network, ensure our residents and business have reliable connectivity, with safe, well-maintained roads, and that we’re well prepared ahead of next winter."

The range of additional and preventative works which will be planned include:

• Targeted operations to tackle the 20 worst roads
• A carriageway resilience recovery programme
• Alternative surface treatments
• Additional Velocity Spray-applied Patching

You can report a problem on the roads to Somerset Council here.

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