MORE than 400 people have signed an open letter calling on Somerset Council to make gas contractors work double shifts and weekends so Watchet’s Brendon Road can be reopened sooner.

The letter was launched by Exmoor farmer and Conservative campaigner James Wright and gathered the signatures in just 72 hours.

A video Mr Wright filmed on Sunday (October 11) showing the closed road has also been viewed nearly 70,000 times.

Brendon Road, the main route in and out of the town, has been closed between Five Bells and the railway bridge since October 5 and is not due to reopen until November 13.

The closure is part of a £1.2 million Wales and West Utilities (WWU) gas mains upgrade of nearly four miles of pipes serving about 700 customers in Watchet and Williton.

Drivers are being diverted along a minor road through Williton, and Somerset Council is running a free shuttle bus for residents linking Watchet, Doniford, and Williton.

Wales and West Utilities has blocked off Brendon Road, in Watchet, for six weeks.
Wales and West Utilities has blocked off Brendon Road, in Watchet, for six weeks. (Contributed)

Mr Wright said when he visited on the Sunday afternoon no work was taking place and an ambulance had to turn around.

Jennie Jukes, who runs Watchet business Perfectly Lovely Interiors, said work had also finished at 12.30 pm on the Friday.

Ms Jukes said: “As business owners in town this is hugely upsetting.

“I understand the work needs to be done, but just crack on and do it and the road would be reopened in half the time.”

Mr Wright’s letter asks the council, which approved the closure, to require double shifts on weekdays and working at weekends, and to publish a timetable with weekly progress updates.

It also asks for the same conditions to apply to the next stage of the programme, where WWU plans to close the A39 through Williton for two months in the New Year.

The closure of Williton’s Long Street was due to start next month but was postponed after villagers expressed their anger.

Mr Wright has written to Somerset executive Cllr Richard Wilkins, who holds the highways and transport portfolio, asking for a response by Friday, October 23.

Watchet traders have complained the closure has hit them hard, with chamber of trade chairman John Richards saying trade had fallen by at least 50 per cent, and describing the town as ‘desolate’.

Mr Wright said: “This is madness.

“On a Sunday afternoon there was nobody working on the main road in and out of Watchet, and I watched an ambulance have to turn round.

“If the contractors worked double shifts in the week and carried on at weekends, the closure could be cut in half.

“Somerset Council has let the contractors get away with saving money, when it should be insisting they spend a little more and finish the job quicker to protect the businesses, jobs, and families who rely on this road.

“More than 400 people have signed this letter in three days.

“The council needs to get on top of this now, and set the right conditions before the A39 through Williton is closed in the New Year.”