Somerset Council’s leader has this week warned that local roads around the M5 are struggling to cope with the sheer volume of traffic diverted onto them during motorway closures, which he says are happening with “significant regularity”.
Cllr Bill Revans has called on National Highways and Avon and Somerset Police to work with the council on new plans for managing the motorway, arguing that the surrounding road network is not built to handle the displacement of vehicles when major incidents force the M5 to shut.
Police figures from 2020 to 2025 show that average M5 closures in Somerset last around four and a quarter hours, an hour less than the average for the south of England.
But Cllr Revans said other regions have stronger infrastructure to absorb diverted traffic, even during longer closures. “When the displacement traffic movements go on to the county road network… it just isn’t built to cope with that volume of traffic,” he said.
He added that he was not approaching discussions “with solutions or blame”, but stressed that the M5 needed to be better managed to reduce the impact on “communities, businesses and everyone’s daily lives”.
In response, Insp Matt Boiles from Avon and Somerset Police said officers were acutely aware of the disruption caused by closures but stressed that delays were never intentional.
“The closures are sometimes taking a long period of time – but that is not through choice. We’re not sat there twiddling our thumbs. We are trying to get a job done as quickly and swiftly as possible,” he said.
He acknowledged that some A‑roads struggled with “huge volumes of traffic” and said police could look at improving traffic flow and reviewing traffic light systems in future.
A spokesperson for National Highways adds: “We’re aware of the impact any unplanned closures have on communities around the M5 and we will continue to engage with both emergency services and Somerset Council to identify opportunities for improvement within this process.”
