THE Government is being asked to provide funding to reopen a West Somerset coastal road which will become permanently closed on Friday (October 31).

Somerset Council closed the B3191 Watchet to Blue Anchor road in January, 2023, after it was threatened by the collapse of coastal cliffs in Cleeve Hill.

Now, the council is making the closure order permanent but at the same time has asked Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander for up to £37 million to move the road inland and also use rock armour and localised cliff stabilisation to protect the coastline.

Somerset executive Cllr Richard Wilkins said he would welcome an ‘urgent discussion’ about opportunities for a Department for Transport funding contribution toward the necessary works.

Cllr Wilkins said: “I sincerely hope this can be the start of a constructive and fruitful dialogue given the urgency of the situation.

“The road provides a vital function in accessing our communities and providing resilience in the local road network including access to Hinkley Point C.

“There are also significant wider economic benefits in retaining road access.”

Cllr Wilkins said although the scheme qualified for a £1 million Environment Agency grant, this was insufficient to take it forward, while it was also beyond the council’s own maintenance grant.

This week’s permanent closure of the B3191 comes despite more than a thousand people signing a protest petition against the move along with objections from several town and parish councils.

Cllr Wilkins explained to Ms Alexander the impact of the closure on Watchet after two years and the growing urgency of the situation.

He said there was now only one road into Watchet which crossed a 150-year-old bridge, and the B3191 was a crucial alternative route when the A39 was closed for maintenance, or due to an accident, or, as experienced in recent years, flooding.

Cllr Wilkins said: “We consulted our communities about the ongoing closure and they told us that it is having a major effect on the economy of Watchet including the cost to the local economy and the inconvenience in terms of hours lost in delays, the logistics of coping with delivering goods to and from Minehead, as well as the negative effects on tourism.”

He said the council had to ensure the continued safety of the public which was why the road remained unsafe to open.

Legal advice that the current temporary traffic order was not appropriate and could be challenged meant the council had to put in place a permanent order.

However, Cllr Wilkins said: “The closure order can be reversed if funding becomes available, and we will continue to lobby hard for our local communities to ensure a solution can be found and funded.

“We understand the strength of feeling about the B3191, but at the same time, as the highways authority, we have a statutory duty to have the appropriate order in place.”

Cllr Wilkins said the council in the next few weeks would write to explain the decision to all those who had objected to the closure.