Motorists in the Burnham-On-Sea area have this week been assured by Somerset Council that thousands of potholes will be fixed as soon as possible following a ‘challenging’ winter of wet weather.
Several local residents have contacted Burnham-On-Sea.com regarding the poor state of local roads. Cyclists and vehicle owners have been dodging around the deepest spots – and some have been left with hefty repair bills.
Among the worst-affected local roads are Burnham’s Berrow Road, The Esplanade, Oxford Street and Love Lane, followed by Brean’s Coast Road, Highbridge’s Church Road and Burnham Road, and Berrow’s Red Road.
A Somerset Council spokesperson told Burnham-On-Sea.com this week: “The extremely wet weather and flood conditions throughout this winter have posed real challenges for Somerset and other highway authorities across the country when it comes to road deterioration and potholes.”
“However, the Council has received extra money from Government from redirected HS2 funds and we will be investing this into numerous locations on the county’s 6,600km highway network.”
“The Council has just entered new contracts with innovative specialist partners in the shape of Kier Transportation, Kiely Bros and Heidelberg Materials who will be carrying out a comprehensive programme of emergency pothole repairs, carriageway patching, carriageway resurfacing, and surface dressing throughout the coming months.”
The council adds: “It’s really helpful when the public flag problems – you can do this quickly and easily via this link: Report a problem on a Somerset road.”
”This takes you to 19 different categories to report online including potholes, overhanging vegetation, flooding, blocked drains and gullies, which should all be reported online as you will receive a faster response as they are directly linked to our Highways Team.”
Somerset Council says it has received compensation claims, but adds: “In terms of compensation claims, there was an increase in the period post-Covid as traffic levels rose but the number of claims submitted is still a fraction of the total number of complaints.”
Somerset Council has been allocated additional capital grants for highways activity of £4,997,500 for extra highways maintenance and pothole repair funding, as outlined here.
