Somerset village bridge repair delays spark explosion fears
Residents in a Somerset village have expressed fears about a "crumbling" bridge collapsing or causing a "huge explosion" from its gas pipe. Locals in Stoke St Michael are desperate for the Stoke Lane Culvert to be fixed – but as of yet have had no joy.
An FOI request seen by Somerset Live confirms that over £133,000 has been spent trying to fix Stoke Lane Culvert as of August this year. Work though remains ongoing.
Somerset Council has said that they appreciate and apologise for the inconvenience the delays have caused to the local community. They added that they are keenly aware of the urgency to get these repairs done.
READ MORE:Cyclist fighting for his life after horrific truck crash
READ MORE:Crash blocked road through Somerset in both directions
Locals though fear that a ‘huge explosion’ could happen. While they admit the likelihood is not that high, there is concern in the village – as despite the funding put into fixing the bridge, the efforts were halted by a discovery that the bridge's pipes were just four inches from the surface.
Resident Dan White said: "The Council spent a huge amount of money, they blocked off the road and got a team of civil engineers now and a welfare unit, a security guard on site.
"Just before they started digging, they decided to check to make sure the bridge was alright and as they were digging down [...] they discovered that the gas pipe, the electricity pipe and the telecoms pipe are all about four inches below the surface."
The team stopped digging. Over a year later, the bridge still needs repairs and lorries are banned from driving over it.
Dan's chief concern is safety. He said: "It's obviously a great concern for the villagers because of the gas pipe. If that fractures, you could have a huge explosion. It's not massively likely, but it's still a potential outcome."
Other people are worried about how much repairs are costing. A FOI request to Somerset Council sent by a different resident asked how much money has been spent in the "farcical attempt" to fix the bridge: the council said £133,408 as of Thursday, August 1 this year.
In their response, Somerset Council explained: "The repair scheme originally commenced on 03/07/2023 however shortly after commencement a number of unforeseen significant issues were identified. As a result the site was closed down and made safe and has been protected ever since.
"In the background negotiations and discussions have been taking place with the utility companies and our contractors as to how the works can proceed. When you have multiple companies involved, all with their own individual working methods, requirements, standards etc, it has been time consuming and not straightforward."
The statement continued: "We are hoping that in an upcoming meeting with all of these utility companies we will finally be able to agree a suitable and safe way forward so that the culvert can finally be repaired. We appreciate and apologise for the inconvenience these delays have caused to the local community."
Dan says that as of late, Somerset Council have stopped responding to emails from residents. He even claims that the chair of the parish council's messages have gone unanswered. "It just seems to be a classic council waste of money and it's just been abandoned," he said.
In response, a spokesperson for Somerset Council said: "We are keenly aware of the urgency to get these repairs done and understand the frustration of the communities in the immediate area. Our team is working with a number of utility providers to ensure this can be done as soon as possible.
"The key problem is that three providers have cables or piping just below the surface of the road and these have to be safely re-routed to enable work to continue. This is unfortunately a complicated process – one of the pipes carries gas and our team has taken measures to protect this from being damaged."