THE closure by Somerset Council of the B3222 road through Brushford for two months to instal a new drainage scheme has become a ‘nightmare’, causing ‘disruption and distress’ which could lose the village up to 60 per cent of its trade, a local business owner claimed this week.

Work on the 330-yard stretch of road was scheduled to take place between 9.30 am and 3.30 pm from Monday to Friday.

But, angry residents claim the road has remained closed until nearly 7 pm despite having been told that night working was dangerous and too expensive.

Judith Gannon, owner of Brushford’s Carnarvon Stores and Murco petrol station, said her store stood to lose thousands of pounds of business every week because of the road closure.

Ms Gannon said: “The nightmare continues.

“Everybody made their plans around the road reopening at 3.30 pm, including school pick-ups.

“The effect was not just on our business but had an impact on many in Dulverton itself.

“The mismanagement did not stop there.

“We were promised there would be signage regarding diversions and that local businesses were still open, at Exbridge and with the use of Perrys New Road.

“None of this has appeared.

“This has caused even more profound disruption to our business than we had anticipated.

“We have no choice but to raise the issue with all local stakeholders, particularly as local authorities have additional funding to deal with roadworks, causing the minimum disruption to the economy and affected communities.”

Ms Gannon said in a message to council programme manager Chris Tucker: “When you are able to discuss the revised start date with your contractor, I hope that your contract will enable you to keep the same end date.

“A lack of planning on their part should not be a reason for an extension of time and any further creep of the timescale into March would impact on the critical Easter trading period.

“If your contractor does seek to delay matters further, do you have the ability to apply latent and ascertained damages and if so will they be at a level which is sufficient to cover the losses of the businesses of Brushford and Dulverton?”

Villagers said the disruption will involve an eight-mile diversion and temporary traffic lights.

A spokesperson said: “A couple of weeks of road closure is survivable - two months is not.

“A number of businesses which are vital to the community, and to sustaining the local economy, will suffer devastating losses as a result of this.

“Other schemes are being carried out at night to avoid damage to the local economy but requests for night working have been met with silence.”

A council spokesperson said: “This is a major scheme aimed at improving drainage.

“Our team is trying to ensure that disruption is minimised.

“Sometimes, night working is an option but it is not possible in this case due to safety reasons and because of the type of work and the proximity of people’s homes.”