Hundreds of angry residents packed into North Petherton’s Community Centre last night to hear officials from Somerset County Council explain their plans to upgrade J24.

What the vast majority wanted to hear were the reasons why the current roadworks on the A38 have taken so long and continue to cause major delays. The questions over the A38 would not be answered by the officials they were told as they were invited to only talk about J24 said County Councillor David Fothergill Cabinet Member for Highways.

Cllr Fothergill chaired the meeting that was introduced by the mayor of the town Cllr Alan Bradford. Cllr Fothergill had difficulties at times keeping order such was the hostile views of the audience although his good humour saw him through the most difficult exchanges.

Following a series of presentations about the proposed works to J24 the agenda for the audience had already been set by what many saw as bad planning and execution of the work on the A38. As one member of the audience put it, the County Council had “lost the confidence of the residents” over the way they had tackled the work on the A38. The time taken on building the cycle path was the main grievance.

The first question was “would the contractors be working day and night” on J24 to speed things up. The answer was no – due to health and safety concerns and costs. This led to roars of disapproval from the residents who shouted out at the panel of officials that many construction projects have night and shift work.

“You’ve messed this town up and I’ve never known anything like it,” shouted one member of the audience which led to applause and shouts of “here, here.” Others shouted out: “Sort something out Mr Fothergill. You’ve messed up the A38. Admit it – you are wrong.”

The work on the junction will start shortly after the work on the A38 ends and will continue until the end of May next year. It will include sets of lights at the roundabout, box junctions, four lanes from the M5 to the roundabout, the removal of the laybys to make space and reduction in the size of the current roundabout. There will also be pedestrian crossings and new pavements, plus new street lighting.

Although there were concerns about the layout in general it was the way the work would be carried out that caused most anger with residents. One of the most contentious points was the belief that the authorities had the safety of workers at heart over the road users. One reoccurring issue was the current and expected future tailbacks which left motorists in queues on the M5 waiting to leave the motorway. This was described by one man as “an accident waiting to happen.”

Further questions were raised about parking in Campion Way, more homes being built, the chaos caused by the poor layout of the service station which added to the problem, and whether there was simply too much traffic both now and in the future.

To diffuse some of the more difficult questions Cllr Fothergill said individual complaints could be dealt with on a one-to-one basis in separate meetings. A section of the council’s website would give information and residents could sign up for email updates to which one lady pointed out that many don’t have the internet.

The meeting broke up after the question and answer sessions with the residents leaving feeling very disgruntled. Outside in the streets many spoke of their disgust at the attitude of the officials who failed to understand the situation and there was a general feeling of dissatisfaction.

Did you attend the meeting? What are your views on the planned work on the roundabout? Send your views on all things transport to harry.mottram@nqsw.co.uk as we’d love to hear your thoughts.