THE closure of the busy A358 main road near Combe Florey for six hours a day over two weeks in June could have a serious effect on West Somerset’s tourist recovery, a local MP claimed this week.

Ian Liddell-Grainger branded the closure of the Taunton-Minehead road as ‘lunatic” and said it would deal a heavy blow to the West Somerset business community just as it was starting to get back on its feet.

Somerset County Council’s highways team will be resurfacing a stretch of the A358 near Combe Florey, between Williton Road and Coggins Lane, as the carriageway is in need of urgent repair.

A Highways spokesman said the temporary road closure was needed to ensure the safety of road users and the workforce and would be in place from 9.30am to 3.30pm, weekdays only, between Monday, June 14, and Friday, June 25.

The road will be open to traffic outside these hours and during the weekend. But this week county councillor Hugh Davies expressed concern about how emergency vehicles and buses would reach their destinations and urged that diversions would be kept as small as possible and be extensively advertised.

Cllr John Woodman, the council’s cabinet member for highways and transport , said: “We’ve carried out a significant number of works during lockdown, including major repairs to the roadside embankment and improvements to the highway drainage system on the stretch of A358 near to this location.

“Resurfacing works have still had to be prioritised in order of urgency and it’s inevitable this work will need to continue as we move out of lockdown – fortunately this particular work will have been completed before the summer holidays.

“We are aware there will be an impact for businesses and residents, so every effort will be made to keep the duration of the works to a minimum.”

He said the highways team had been working closely with local businesses to take account of feedback on appropriate temporary signage and the delivery of the scheme.

“The team will work to ensure access to households and businesses for essential deliveries, is as convenient as possible during the works,” he said.

The council will resurface 600 metres of the road at Combe Florey in a scheme which was originally scheduled for completion in April but which was delayed by ‘administrative issues beyond its control’.

But Mr Liddell-Grainger said the closure would deal a heavy blow to the West Somerset business community just as it was starting to get back on its feet “The council could hardly have chosen worse timing,” he said.

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