Somerset Council’s highways teams are working hard to complete planned maintenance works and improvements in Bruton, despite delays caused by some significant challenges.

A revised programme saw Coombe Street closed as part of a small improvements scheme until Monday 22 August. The scheme moved to High Street from Tuesday 22 August.

The delayed programme will mean a closure needs to be in place for the High Street from Tuesday 22 August to 5 September (excluding the Bank Holiday weekend August 26-28). There will also need to be a partial closure of Quaperlake Street, Combe Street and Patwell Street (details below).

We understand this will impact on residents and businesses and our teams will do everything they can to minimise this.

We are also allowing Wales and West to utilise the closure for the final few days to carry out essential works. This avoids a further closures in a few weeks time if they have to return to carry out the work.

The full details are as follows:

• Tuesday 22 August to Thursday 24 August, High Street is closed from 9.30am to 5pm
• Friday 25 August, High Street is closed from 9.30am to 11.30pm
• High Street is open from Saturday 26 August to Monday 28 August
• From Tuesday 29 August to Friday 1 September the High Street is closed from 9.30am to 11.30pm, plus partial closures of Quaperlake Street and Coombe Street during these hours.
• Alongside this is a  planned resurfacing scheme on Patwell Street  between 6pm and 11.30pm excluding weekends, running from Thursday 25 August to Wednesday 30 August.
• From Sunday 3 September to Tuesday 5 September, High Street is closed 24/7 for Wales and West Utilities and reopens in time for start of business on Wednesday 6 September.

There were a number of challenges which have pushed the programme back from the original dates.

On the first day of work this summer, asbestos was discovered underneath a traffic island on High Street, and later that week a sinkhole formed in a separate part of High Street, so works were suspended so Coombe Street could be reopened to ease pressure on the network while High Street was under closure. During this time, the asbestos was removed and disposed of successfully.

Subsequently, some utilities have been found to be shallower in the road surface than expected, and these have had to be worked around carefully. The team have also discovered a historic drainage system under the road, and efforts to keep working around this old infrastructure, alongside conserving this in partnership with South West Heritage have complicated work further.

Councillor Mike Rigby, Somerset Council’s Executive Lead Member for Transport and Digital said:

“Firstly, thank you to everyone in and around Bruton for their patience and co-operation. We appreciate this has been challenging for all concerned.

“These works have not been easy to deliver for a variety of reasons, but the team is working as swiftly and as safely as they can to get everything done, and to bring disruption to traffic in Bruton to an end.”

If you have any specific questions on the small improvements scheme in Bruton, you can contact ISDelivery@somerset.gov.uk by email.

Access for residents and businesses in the immediate area will be maintained throughout and a diversion will be in place, with full details available on the Council’s Roadworks and travel information webpage.

Follow @TravelSomerset on Twitter and Facebook for live travel updates, roadworks and other highways news.

If you spot a problem on the road you can report it quickly and easily via the Council’s Report a problem on the road page.