Road closure sends villagers on 13-mile diversion

An 80-yard road closure in Somerset will force drivers onto a 13-mile diversion - just to get to the other side of the village.

Cothelstone Road in Bishops Lydeard, north of Taunton, connects the village to Bridgwater.

But for the next 10 weeks, masonry repairs and drainage work will split the village in two, with the closure between Pound Lane and Delta Rise being enforced 24 hours a day.

Businesses and locals in the village have described the closure as a "nightmare", while the council maintains the work "needs to be done".

While the repairs are due to be completed by 29 March, motorists seeking to reach the Quantocks from the village are being diverted back onto the A358 Pen Elm, into the Staplegrove area of Taunton and up through Kingston St. Mary.

Speaking to BBC Radio Somerset, Alison Roberts from the local newsagents, said the closures will cause disruption to her business.

"A lot of people that would normally drive this way to go over the hills to Bridgwater will avoid it, so we will get less passing trade," she said.

"It seems odd that they're not going to just block off one side and traffic light it - that makes a lot of sense.

"If they created a one-way system around the lanes, that would make everything possible... it seems to be not a lot of thought gone into the whole process, really."

Another local said the closure was "absolutely rubbish", questioning how emergency services could use the road, while another called it a "nightmare", and said they were worried for vulnerable residents who live beyond the closure.

Richard Wilkins, portfolio holder for transport on Somerset Council, said: "This work needs to be done.

"We appreciate this will be disruptive for residents and road users and our contractor will do their best to minimise this."