THE state of Somerset’s roads in the aftermath of Storm Chandra has highlighted the “broken” funding system for local authorities, according to a county leader, as it struggles to deal with hundreds of new defects.
Councillor Bill Revans (Lib Dem, North Petherton), leader of Somerset Council, has called on the government to recognise the “huge financial impact” of such weather events on rural counties as the county continues to be battered by heavy rain.
Amid ongoing flooding on the Levels and Moors, with a weather warning in place for much of today (February 3), Somerset Council said it has seen more than 850 road defects – including potholes, blocked drains, and more – reported over the weekend (January 31/February 1), as Highways teams work to repair more than 3,500 recent defects across the county.
The setback comes after Somerset was named in the top 26 of 153 authorities for road maintenance, with the condition of county roads scored ‘Green’ under the Department for Transport’s grading system.
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“This is another example of where the national model for funding local councils is broken,” Cllr Revans said.
“In Somerset, we are a rural county with a large road network and our geography means we are more vulnerable to flooding.
“With extreme weather and storms becoming more frequent, we want to invest in roads and infrastructure, but find ourselves in a situation where more and more of our budget must be spent on essential, demand-led services like social care.
“We have worked extremely efficiently with limited resources providing a comprehensive maintenance programme in recent years to ensure our network is fit for purpose, but the additional challenge and increasing frequency of these sorts of weather events, means the timely repair of the mounting number of defects will become impossible without additional funding.
“We have yet to assess the full extent of the damage to the roads caused by flooding, but we are already seeing about 60 per cent to 70 per cent more potholes this winter than in previous years due to the extreme weather.
“The cost of fixing those extra potholes alone is likely to be around £1 million before we even consider the cost of repairing roads that are currently underwater.
“We will continue to work hard to keep our residents safe and our roads in order, but this again highlights the need for long-awaited reform which properly takes into account the additional pressures on rural counties like Somerset.
“We would appreciate people’s patience on the network while teams try to deal with this damage.”
Meanwhile, a major incident remains in place following Storm Chandra, as Somerset Council works alongside emergency services, health services, the Environment Agency (EA), voluntary organisations and others to respond.
“A major incident cell at Bridgwater Police Station remains in place to co-ordinate operations and the council has redeployed staff from their usual duties to support the incident response,” a spokesperson said.
Community drop‑ins have also taken place, offering flood advice, with an event at Great Bow Wharf in Langport planned today (Tuesday), between 10am and noon.
On the roads, Oake Road in Bradford-on-Tone has reopened, while monitoring continues on Law Lane, Muchelney, and the A372, and some school transport routes have minor diversions.
READ MORE: Environment news from your Somerset Leveller
- Have you seen Somerset’s worst pothole? Send your pictures – and details of where it is and when you saw it – to newsdesk@somersetleveller.co.uk, or post your picture on our Facebook page…
Large pothole on mudford road Yeovil, right in the middle of the word ‘slow’ (where the ‘O’ should be!) just before the pedestrian crossing before the junction turn off for Johnson park
And lots of deep holes on runnymead road and bucklers mead road!