FEARS over water mains work in Stoke St Gregory have eased at a meeting with Wessex Water officials, business owners have said.

Work has been agreed to start on February 25 with the water firm giving themselves a fiveweek window to complete the work.

The County Gazette reported two weeks ago how people in the village said they were worried that business and travelling would be severely affected but after last Thursday’s meeting with the project manager and officials, those worries have been settled.

Ian Upshall, from Village Stores, said: “They [Wessex Water] understood the issues we raised and were willing to keep in touch to help minimise disruption.

“It is all about communication and getting the facts so everyone knew where they were and we get through this amicably.

“There will be periods when they can’t allow vehicles through but it will be minimised as much as possible.

“We will just have to work around it if we want clean water to drink.”

Worries over a diversion down Huntham Lane were also eased with a proposed route from Wessex Water seeing traffic head from Curload Hill through Curload and across to Athelney before travelling through Stathe on to Slough Lane which leads on to the bottom of Griggs Hill.

Parish council chairman Heather Venn said: “The more we can work together the better because local people have been concerned over these works and there seems to be a positive response from the meeting.”

Parish councillor Ann Finn added: “It was a constructive meeting and Wessex Water are being very co-operative – they are giving us a mobile phone number to call if we need to get large vehicles in the village and they are doing their best to accommodate us.”

Wessex Water say the upgrade on Griggs Hill is needed as the pipes are more than 100 years old. They added: “We will do everything we can to keep disruption to a minimum, try to cover excavations at night for residents access, and deliveries for shops and pubs will still be able to continue.”