Cut off from the outside world

Strengthening and improvement works started last week on a hundred-year-old steel bridge just of the A358 at Combe Florey, but this has meant villagers have no access over the bridge to catch the Minehead to Taunton bus service.

Therefore any resident without a car cannot get to Taunton or Minehead, and residents from the other side of the road cannot get into the village to the church or hall.

Resident Ron Jos, who lives near the bridge, said: "We spoke to Somerset County Council and asked if they would be providing access for people who don't have cars and who cannot now get to the bus, or the people from the other side of the road and they said they would look into it.

"That doesn't seem to have happened as the work has begun and we still don't have access.

"It's wrong, especially as many people don't have cars and rely on the bus service."

Somerset County Council said it was dealing with the issue.

Peter Radford, Somerset Bridge Manager, said: "Works were planned to try and cause minimum inconvenience although it was expected to be necessary to suspend pedestrian access over the bridge for a short while during certain construction activities.

"Unfortunately excavation in the road surface had to be greater than expected and the contractor altered their working arrangements - this did mean that pedestrian access became hazardous. I would like to apologise for the difficulties this caused.

"We are grateful that the disruption has been brought to our attention and we shall be immediately reinstating a safer access across the bridge.

"We shall then be explaining the forward programme by way of signs at the site and discussion with local residents to try and cause the minimum disruption as we take the work to its completion.

"If any local resident has any problem we would be grateful if they would contact us direct using the numbers shown on the signs at the site.

"The works should be completed in around two weeks."