THE cost of traffic misery on the A39 while traffic lights are replaced at Dunster Steep has been found to be nearly £600,000.

Exmoor farming entrepreneur and political campaigner James Wright was given the figure by Somerset Council in answer to a Freedom of Information (FoI) question.

Work to replace the 30-year-old traffic lights started on January 5 amid council fears the lights could fail completely and is not expected to be finished until May.

Mr Wright’s FoI revealed the contract the council awarded to contractors Centregreat was priced at £599,243.52.

The answer also revealed how mayhem caused in the early days of the work with several miles of queues was caused by ‘a faulty detector when the system was being installed, but this was picked up during the system commissioning and a replacement ordered’.

At the time, the authority claimed the delays were because Storm Goretti had damaged a key sensor.

Mr Wright said: “The response from commuters has been far from positive, with the A39 corridor frequently descending into gridlock.

“Despite this significant investment, local residents and businesses continue to endure months of disruption, with the project not scheduled for completion until late spring.

“The FoI response confirms the contract remains technically ‘on track’ in financial terms.

“Remarkably, the council stated there have been ‘no compensation events notified by the contractor’ and no ‘early warning notices’ regarding malfunctioning signals which plagued the first weeks of the scheme.

“For the council to say there is no ability to reclaim costs despite the huge tailbacks is shocking.

“We are seeing nearly £600,000 of public money spent on a project that has no financial mechanism for compensation despite the thousands of hours of lost for many in West Somerset.

“It is not good enough.”

The council reacted to the early furore from drivers by putting humans in charge to manually run the ‘intelligent’ temporary traffic lights at peak times and ordering two-way traffic to be maintained as much as possible and giving priority to Butlin’s holidaymaker’s on the changeover days of Monday and Friday.

But it is still advising motorists to continue to allow extra time for journeys, particularly between Tuesday and Thursday when a one-way shuttle system was most active.

Minehead Somerset Cllr Mandy Chilcott said she and other local representatives had been working behind the scenes to press for adjustments to the scheme.

Cllr Chilcott said she had consistently underlined how critical the A39 route was for the whole of West Somerset.

She said: “We have no alternative routes to use and our dependency on the A39 has been amplified with the closure of the B3191 at Cleeve Hill.

“I have worked closely with the contractors on the Dunster lights programme to ensure they realise the impact this is having on residents, visitors, businesses, and commuters.

“It is deeply frustrating to see a ‘business as usual’ response from the council.

“I have pushed for manual signal control and maintaining the two-way flow whenever possible in order to keep West Somerset moving.”