A LANDOWNER has been told he must take action to stop mud slippages from his field blocking a main road between West Somerset and Taunton.

Somerset County Council is working with the landowner to ensure work is carried out urgently to prevent any further landslips onto the vital route

This week the authority's highways team is carrying out essential drainage upgrade and clearance works along the A358 at Combe Florey.

There have been a number of recent incidents on the stretch of road that have caused closures and significant disruption.

Two flooding incidents in August and September occurred after heavy rain produced run-off from fields that resulted in tonnes of soil slurry and potatoes onto the road at Combe Florey.

A closure and major clear-up operation was needed on both occasions.

Then on December 20 another smaller incident occurred in the same location, which also resulted in a road closure and slippage of an embankment on the West Somerset Railway.

Following the first two incidents, a local tenant farmer was asked by the council to carry out remedial measures to prevent another incident.

Although some works were undertaken, they proved to be insufficient to stop the pre-Christmas slip.

The council is now in negotiation with the landowner and is demanding further remedial measures.

Somerset County Council’s lead member for transport and digital, Cllr Mike Rigby, said: “Local people and road users are quite rightly fed up with this happening and the landowner has a clear responsibility to do something about this.

“We have made this clear to the landowner and we are committed to ensuring that effective remedial works are carried out urgently so that this sort of incident cannot happen again.

Jane Bishop, landlady of the Farmers Arms pub in Combe Florey, has been impacted by the road closures.

She said: "I think we probably speak on behalf of the whole of West Somerset.

"It's not just us that have been impacted. It's the West Somerset Railway, someone whose garden was also effected and road users from West Somerset.

"Somerset County Council needs to start discussions with the landowner as to why it's happening so often now while historically it's never happened like that."