The Causeway through the village of Mark near Burnham-On-Sea is set to close for a further four months from April to allow major flood-prevention work to be completed.
Wessex Water has said this week that the Causeway will be closed from 4th April to 8th August.
The firm says it’s spending over £2 million on upgrading the existing sewerage network through the village of Mark, which struggles to cope during times of heavy rainfall because it uses an old vacuum sewer system. The company has to regularly tanker sewage away to maintain services for customers.
A new sewer is therefore being laid along The Causeway to convert part of the existing system and alleviate the flooding problems.
Work started in June 2015, and The Causeway was closed from 26 October 2015 to 3 March 2016 so the new gravity sewer could be constructed.
However, Wessex Water had to temporarily remove the road closure earlier this month due to other road closures taking place in the area.
Somerset County Council highways has now approved the closure of the road once again so that Wessex Water can complete its essential work.
The Causeway will be closed from 4th April to 8th August and the water company says it’s working in conjunction with the council to ensure its work is completed before the council resurfaces the road, which is due to take place during the August school holidays.
This week Wessex Water has written to parents of Mark C of E First School, local residents and businesses to make them aware of the next stage of the work.
Project Manager Andy Roberts told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “Our sewerage improvement work has taken much longer than anticipated due to difficult ground conditions.”
“While we will be maintaining vehicle access to properties as much as possible in the affected area and helping to facilitate access for Somerset Council contracted school buses, we are unable to allow traffic through the working area as the road isn’t deemed wide enough.”
“We realise that the road closure will cause inconvenience for through traffic and we apologise to motorists for disruption to journeys.”
“Throughout the scheme we have kept local people informed of progress and will continue to do so as work on this essential scheme that will benefit local people continues.”
Wessex Water says it will be doing everything it can to complete work as quickly and safely as possible and added that it would look to work extended hours and increase its workforce.
