More than 16,000 road defects have been reported in Somerset

£5 million boost to road, pavement and cycle route repairs in Somerset

Paul JonesMarch 4, 20260 Comment0

ROADS, pavements and cycleways in Somerset will be smartened up in the coming years thanks to £5 million of investment – after more than 16,000 defects were reported in the county.

Somerset Council said new spending proposals would see more ‘lower-priority’ issues addressed – like faded road markings, broken signs and overgrown hedges.

The authority said current road maintenance programmes “focus on safety critical works”, leaving other issues “unresolved, often for many years”.

It comes as the council revealed it had received 16,332 reports of road defects following bad weather, almost four times the amount received over the same period last year.

Now, under the new spending plan, the council pledged to carry out a range of visible improvements, like clearing more drains and gullies, fixing and cleaning road signs, repainting faded road markings, collecting litter, and clearing overgrown vegetation, particularly near walking and cycling routes.

Improvements will also be made to the council’s public reporting system, to make it easier for residents to highlight any issues on the roads.

Cllr Bill Revans, leader of the council, said: “As a listening council we know the public want us to do much more than simply keep our roads safe, and we want to see improvements across our council area.

“We will continue to prioritise pothole repairs and are working hard to clear the backlog caused by the many weeks of wet weather and flooding we have experienced this winter. We plan to allocate additional funds to tackle the backlog of potholes if we need to.

“Now that we have next year’s budget proposals ready for Full Council next week, we can also look forward to bringing forward our proposals to increase spending in a much needed programme of additional drain and gully clearance, improving signage and lining on our A and B roads, starting to make sure cycle lanes are clear of overgrowth, and improving our public reporting system.”

He said £2m has already been identified from uncommitted funds for the programme, with the balance of funding for subsequent years to be identified over the coming year.

It comes after Somerset roads were badly hit during inclement weather, particularly during Storm Chandra, with the council saying it had received 16,332 reports of road defects, compared to 4,417 for the same period last year.

In response, the authority said it had more than doubled the number of teams dealing with the damage, deployed extra equipment and used alternative materials to try to speed up the process.

As of February 20, 4,577 potholes had been fixed by 35 teams dedicated to the work, the council added.