ILMINSTER NEWS: Dangerous road will be tarmacked

A ROAD which leads to the Archie Gooch Pavilion at Britten’s Field in Ilminster is to be tarmacked as soon as possible to avoid any accidents.

Members of Ilminster Town Council said the access road off Canal Way was in a dangerous condition and needed to be sorted very quickly.

The council was granted permission some years ago by the landowners, the Britten’s Trust, to use that land for access to Britten’s Field as long as the authority kept it in good condition.

Cllr Stuart Shepherd told council members on Tuesday (August 15, 2017) that the road was “getting dangerous” and needed to be sorted as a matter of urgency.

“If there is an accident on that road we could be sued for not maintaining it properly,” he said.

There has been some confusion, however, as to whether tarmacking the road is what the Britten’s Trust would class as keeping it in “good condition.”

PHOTO - TOP: The access road to the Archie Gooch Pavilion off Canal Way which needs to be tarmacked. This photo was taken during the construction of the pavilion.

There was discussion during the meeting that if the council went ahead with tarmacking the road it might not be long before the Britten’s Trust said that it wanted it removed.

And it would appear that the council has had problems in verifying the situation with the Britten’s Trust as to whether it can proceed with the tarmac plan.

But the Mayor of Ilminster, Cllr Val Keitch, was of the opinion that tarmacking needed to be done because there were raised ironworks in the road and large potholes.

“We might find ourselves having to pay compensation to motorists for the damage their vehicles get going down there,” she said. “The risk is greater if we don’t tarmac the road, in my opinion, rather than actually doing it.”

Cllr Roger Swann added: “We should come back to the law of common sense. People have said to me that the footpath and road is disgusting.

“It’s dangerous. The sooner we get on and tarmac that road and the footpath the better.”

It was pointed out that although the access road was the responsibility of the town council, the idea of tarmacking the car park at the Archie Gooch Pavilion would have to be funded by the Ilminster Sports Club Ltd which runs the pavilion.

Cllr Matt James suggested, however, that the road and car park should be tarmacked all at the same time.

He said that the tarmac put down by the council in the road would continually need repairing because of water running off from the car park and getting underneath it.

It was agreed that that could be overcome by putting in better drainage where the road met the car park which also act as a boundary.

The state of the car park has also been criticised and the town council – albeit no responsibility for tarmacking it – has agreed to improve its current appearance by removing loose hardcore and making it more user-friendly.

Councillors agreed to put aside £10,000 towards funding a “snagging list” at the Archie Gooch Pavilion which included the tarmacking of the access.

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