SOMERSET Council has committed to making resurfacing works on North Street a ‘priority’ after a successful campaign by a Wellington Town Councillor.

Cllr Chris Booth, who represents Wellington South ward and is chair of the economic development committee, made repeated representations to the unitary authority to shine a spotlight on the pothole-pocked road.

As a result, repairs have now been made a priority, with Somerset Council admitting the road had deteriorated and is now in “poor condition.”

Cllr Booth said: “It is something I have been getting on to them about for a while now. I appreciate it is a difficult situation for Somerset Council right now and I think it is the same everywhere - you have to fight for your own corner.

“Sometimes it’s not just enough to submit a report you have to really pursue it and this is a bit of that. There has been a number of utility works along here which has delayed things but I am glad they have confirmed work is now due to take place.

“The reality is we have to fight to get things done. I’m very pleased it’s been made a high priority because I get very OCD when I find things that need to be fixed.”

Writing to Cllr Booth, Somerset Council’s Highways Authority said: “As the condition of the road surface along North Street, Wellington has continued to deteriorate, the Highways Superintendent has now forwarded a section from the fire station through to the traffic lights in the centre of town for consideration of complete re-surfacing to our Network Management Team.

“This request has been acknowledged and the Network Team will prioritise these works through a scoring process. SCH will continue to repair safety assessed defects along North Street, until such time as the resurfacing is completed.”

Somerset Council said it had long been aware of the worsening issue with potholes on the road - but that planning for works had been made difficult by utilities closing the road for their own works last year - and their existing contract with road maintenance firm Milestone coming to an end.

It comes after a “major programme” of road repairs across the county was announced last month. It is understood 17,000 square metre of road was pre-patched in April, with surface work stated to follow in July.

Carrying out the works will be Kiely Bros, which has been awarded a four year maintenance contract by Somerset Council, which began in April. The firm will also be handling road markings, patching jobs, and sealing cracks in pavements.

In January Somerset Council also signed contracts with Heidelberg Materials and Octavius Infrastructure, which taken together were reportedly worth £140 million.

Somerset Councillor Mike Rigby said at the time the fresh agreements represented ‘value for money.’ He said: “Now more than ever it’s vital that we have a financially resilient service that is cost effective, as well as being flexible and agile, attracting the best people and embracing new technologies to enable innovation.”