MORE than a year of road closures and diversions in an Exmoor village came to an end this week as Wessex Water completed a £1 million project to modernise water supply pipes.

Residents in Timberscombe saw a first phase of the water works begin in January of last year and run until September.

The water company then returned in January of this year for a second phase, which has now been completed on schedule.

The second phase saw Wessex Water teams replace mains pipes in Clouds Steep and on the A396 Dunster to Timberscombe road north of the village.

Most of the work took place at night to reduce the impact on one of Exmoor’s busiest main roads.

The company replaced a mile-and-a-half of old and leaky pipes in and around Timberscombe with plastic pipes to improve water quality and make them more reliable in future.

Project design engineer Egidijus Mockevicius said: “We are delighted to have completed this project around Timberscombe on time.

“It was essential to replace mains that had suffered from a significant number of bursts in the last few years, causing inconvenience and disruption to customers in the area.

“The new plastic pipes will ensure improved water quality and a more reliable source for years to come.

“We worked closely with our customers in the village and the parish council and thank them for their patience and co-operation, particularly around the consultation over, and implementation of, nighttime working for this second phase, which helped to reduce disruption.

“The road is now fully reopened and we will be continuing to remove our site compound and reinstate the area until the start of May.’’

Wessex Water is also investing £3.65 billion over the next five years to ensure its system can cope with increasing demand from population growth and meet climate change challenges.