Somerset Council is set to approve a £5million investment aimed at tackling long‑standing issues on the county’s roads — including faded markings, broken signs and overgrown footpaths.
The Council’s Executive will meet at the start of April to agree the first £2million of funding for 2026/27, allowing work to begin this month.
The new programme will sit alongside existing safety‑critical maintenance, focusing instead on the lower‑level problems that residents say have been left unresolved for years. The package includes a major gully‑clearing operation, fresh road markings, sign repairs and cleaning, litter collection, and vegetation clearance on walking and cycling routes.
Improvements will also be made to the Council’s online reporting system to make it easier for residents to flag issues.
The work will be delivered by the Council’s highways contractor Kier, which will handle signing, lining and gully clearance, while the Council’s Open Spaces Team will take on vegetation management, litter picking and other tidying tasks.
A key part of the plan is an intensive one‑year gully‑emptying programme targeting areas vulnerable to 1‑in‑100‑year flood events — amounting to around 65,000 additional gullies cleared this year.
The full £5million programme will run from 2026/27 to 2028/29, with the aim of making a visible difference to communities from the outset.
Cllr Richard Wilkins, Somerset Council’s Lead Member for Transport and Waste Services, said the investment responds directly to what residents have been telling the authority.
“We listen to our communities when it comes to things they say are important,” he said. “Urgent, safety‑critical maintenance will always be a priority, but we know how frustrating it is when dirty or damaged signs, overgrown pathways and faded road markings are left neglected.”
The Council says £2million has already been identified from uncommitted funds following the setting of a balanced budget for 2026/27, with the remaining funding to be confirmed over the coming year.
Residents can report issues on the roads by visiting somerset.gov.uk and searching report a problem on the road.
